talkin
tech
52
Beverage Media
December 2012
Beverage Media has built integration to the
following POS systems to varying degrees. The
codes with each vendor correspond with the
integration points noted below:
➊
Website inventory updates
➋
Web order importing
➌
Price file integration
➍
eOrders sales history
➎
eOrders purchase orders
➏
order submission by bevmedia
For information about any of these
POS companies, please call
201-489-5888,
ext 231
AIM
➊
➍
➎
➏
Atlantic systems, inc.
(
ASI - Spirits 2000)
➊
➋
➌
➍
➎
➏
CAM COMMERCE
➊
CASH register express
(
PC - America)
➌
➍
CASH register plus
➊
catapult
➊
comcash
➍
➎
➏
computer perfect
➌
➍
➎
➏
counterpoint
➊
Creative Information
System
➊
➍
➏
innovativecomputer
solutions (ICS - VISION)
➊
➋
➌
KBA SPIRITS (Ken buSh)
➌
lbos
➊
➋
LSTAR
➍
➏
Magstar
➊
➋
➌
➍
➎
➏
MERCHANT
SOFTWARE -LiquorPOS
➊
➋
MICROBIZ  
➊
Microsoft retail
management
system (RMS)
➊
➌
➍
➎
➏
MPOWER
➊
➌
PERVASIVE
➊
POS Anywhere
➊
➋
POS-IM
➊
QUICKBOOKS
➊
➋
RCS
➍
➏
tiger Pos
➌
➍
➏
WINE SOFT
➊
Learn about
Selling Wine Online
Sign up for our next
Webinar
on
December 6
th
at 10am EST
.
See how a store uses the
BMG eCommerce system to maintain and
promote products on a website.
For more information visit:
www.bevsites.com
POS Systems
Email: the Key to the Health
of Your Online Sales
By ian griffith
A
report from the Pew Internet
Project last year confirmed that
email is still the top online ac-
tivity and is nearly universal among
adult users. However, Julie Katz at For-
rester Research cautions about the po-
tential for abuse when email is used to
“
deliver fast relief to marketers looking
for short-term boosts.” It can be tempt-
ing to over-exploit your email list for
sales; but, sending too many emails
will jeopardize valuable relationships
with your best customers.
Many of the largest wine retailers
now send daily emails, and while some
offer profile settings with less frequent
options, it has become acceptable to
send more emails than most custom-
ers can bear. After receiving too many
emails though, your customers will
start to ignore them, making your ag-
gressive email campaign backfire.
Marketers have always known the
cost of acquiring new customers is high-
er than retaining existing ones; Bain &
Co. estimates that you spend six to sev-
en times more in acquiring a new cus-
tomer than retaining the ones you have.
This important insight has been largely
overlooked by more aggressive email-
ers. According to Katz, retailers need to
change their mindset from one empha-
sizing quick-hit returns to one striving
to forge long-term bonds. One way to
do this is to focus on metrics illustrating
long-term benefits. By paying attention
to open and click-through rates, it has
been easy to lose sight of the long-term
value of a customer list.
Churn Rate:
You should be track-
ing new email subscriptions along with
subscriber defections and un-subscribes.
At the very least, new subscribers need
to keep up with un-subscribes and hard
bounces so your list doesn’t shrink.
Inactive Subscribers:
If you email
your customers several times a week,
then you should assume that a cus-
tomer becomes inactive after three to
six months without opening an email.
There is no value in continuing to mail
inactive subscribers at such a frequent
rate; however you should target them
for a reactivation. Once an address
has been inactive for between 12 to 18
months, throw it away. Unfortunately,
consumers are largely unaware of the
repercussions from reporting legiti-
mate email as spam, so to avoid having
spam complaints, it is better to remove
inactive subscribers.
Compare Revenue from New Sub-
scribers with Existing Ones:
These rates
combined with the churn rate will give
you firsthand evidence of why you need
to work to retain existing customers. Ac-
cording to Mark Klein of Loyalty Build-
ers LLC, the relative total revenue from
existing customers is typically ten times
greater than newly acquired customers.
Email Value:
Let’s say you have
5,000
emails in your list, an open rate
of 10%, an average revenue per email
of $500, and you send 120 emails per
year. Using these assumptions you can
create a simple calculation of potential
annual revenue of $60K, with the av-
erage revenue per address at $12, but
average revenue per active address
at $120. By recalculating the value
of your active addresses each week,
you will see how your campaigns are
impacting the lifetime value of your
customer list. This makes it easier to
change the focus of your campaigns to
build value.
To improve the profitability of
your email campaigns, try shifting your
email tactics from short-term goals to
long-term value.
n
To comment on this column or to learn more about
how Beverage Media can help with a website for your
store, visit BevSites.com, or contact Ian Griffith at 617-
864-1677.
Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/bevsites.