As part of a natural progression, Harry & David expanded its inventory to include wine.
According to Sierra Castellano, merchandise manager for wine and specialty foods for Harry & David, said the decision to add wine to its assortment was driven by the increasing interest in wine gifts and the positive sales performance the company experienced the last few years.
“We also had many shoppers and local industry wine experts asking why we don’t sell our wine,” said Castellano.
Castellano said in the last year, Harry & David had a soft launch of its wine collection. The company offered the product in wine-only collections and pre-packed gifts where the company chose the wine that paired best with the food inside the gift. The company began with a small assortment of wine gifts a few years ago in partnership with a third party distributor.
Castellano said the company decided to create its own wine collection and become a winery.
Castellano said some shoppers were searching for wine on the site, but the decision to add wine to its assortment wasn’t just driven by search. It was driven by the increasing interest in wine gifts and the positive sales performance the company experienced that last few years.
According to Castellano, this year, in addition to those gift options, Harry & David introduced a wine add-on program where the consumer can add a bottle of wine to a large selection of its most popular gifts for $15 to $20.
Castellano said with over 10 varietals to choose from, it has enabled Harry & David to reach across a broad scope of wine offerings including blends, single varietal wines and dessert wine.
The wines were marketed through prime website placement, printed materials such as catalogs, flyers and wine brochures, Castellano added.
The company has a wine category on its website that separates out three different ways a consumer can shop for the wine. Consumers can purchase gifts with wine already included, they can purchase wine collections or they can just add wine to any food or gift package.
Harry & David currently ship its wine to more than 28 states and expects that number to grow exponentially in the next year, according to Castellano.