This is the third installment in a series titled Voices of WineDirect, where members of our team will discuss what excites them about WineDirect and the future of winery direct to consumer (DTC) channels.

In Volume 3, we are pleased to introduce you to Holly Schick, Director of Marketplace at WineDirect. Holly has a sincere passion for building great teams around great product. Living in the Bay Area for over 20 years, she has been fortunate to have worked with many great people and has acquired a depth of experience in retail across buying, planning and ecommerce in the fast paced corporate environment. What Holly loves about WineDirect is that she is able to use all of her skills, as well as focus her passion around a product she truly believes in - being the Winery's Champion by expanding their reach to millions of new customers in our growing Marketplace Distribution.

What are you most excited about at WineDirect right now, and why?

I am currently very excited about the opportunities we have going forward in Marketplace. The pandemic expedited consumer behavior around ecommerce and I see this as an opportunity for Marketplace to become the leader in new customer generation. Our wineries can grow customer reach, new customer acquisition and ultimately loyalty.

The big news we have coming is that we will be launching a new marketplace in August 2021 called Open Network Exchange which is a hospitality-based marketplace leveraging hospitality rewards currency as well as cash.

How are wineries approaching Marketplace adoption?

Wineries still need a bit of education and coaching around what is Marketplace. To put it simply, Marketplace is an online shopping channel which uses digital marketing tactics to promote and sell wine to high interest consumers. What is great about the WineDirect experience is that our Marketplace team members are the winery brand ambassadors - meaning our team ensures the wineries' high brand expectations for content and storytelling are carried through on our marketplaces. Wineries who joined the program in the past year have grown their interest and commitment and have been able to build strategies to expand their business. We have also seen many wineries approach us to learn more and eventually participate in the program. It has been an exciting time to be on our team!

Which accomplishments from Marketplace have been the most fulfilling?

The most fulfilling aspect of our work is building trust with smaller wineries around Marketplace and establishing growth opportunities. Many of the smaller wineries have just dipped their toes into selling online and we know that to take a step to sell in Marketplaces can be a big jump. I am delighted that they have chosen WineDirect as their partner and feel immense gratitude for the incredible relationships we have established. In fact, in the past 10 months we have onboarded 40+ new wineries!

Tell us something that others may not know about WineDirect's Marketplace Distribution?

We have a great partnership with Vivino, which is continually looking at new ways to grow our wineries’ business. This constant flow of information is shared with wineries so they have opportunities to participate in Vivino special offers and build strategic promotional programs. By listing wines on Vivino, wineries have their wines placed in front of 4.2M users, all with a high-discovery mindset. Marketplace models provide the best of all worlds: the winery stays in complete control of sales and pricing, WineDirect executes the work, and the Marketplace (in this case, Vivino) provides the buyers.

Let's get to know the Marketplace Team!

Gina: Expert Marketplace onboarding, extensive winery knowledge. Gina's favorite part of being on the Marketplace Team is working closely with winery clients, developing relationships and understanding their unique business strategies as she teaches them how to navigate new sales and marketing channels, and ultimately grow their business.

Camelia: Ecommerce and Site Merchandising leader and winery ambassador, ready to bring your content to life. Camelia loves that although they are a small team, they are making major moves!

Mario: Operational excellence guru, Inventory management expert. He finds fulfillment in knowing that our customers are getting their orders as quickly as humanly possible. With an Average Time to Ship of less than 1.5 days, it feels great being part of a team that puts the end consumer experience first.

Ready to boost your brand with Marketplace? Get in touch with us today, whether or not you're an existing WineDirect customer.