On Sale, or Not on Sale, That is the Question

For me, the concept of "on sale" rarely makes sense.

Any business that includes frequent or recurring "sale times" in their strategy by definition must include times when things are more expensive. Like it or not, it's the reality of what a sale is. 

THE DRAMA OF SALE
Most companies use sales to create drama, and in reality I've found that many of them are hype. At Sokolin, we have an actual department dedicated to keeping our prices competitive and we usually find that our competition's "sales" tend to have exaggerated "was" prices so the new NOW price looks cheap by comparison. A real sale is one thing, but my team keeps re-discovering that this is usually not the case.

IT MIGHT BE LESS EXCITING, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY IN YOUR BEST INTEREST
My preference is to maintain the lowest possible prices everyday so that clients have a sense of security when they buy.  Each time we acquire inventory we make sure that we price it to the low or lowest reasonable end of the market. And what do I mean by reasonable? I actually mean REAL. Read on.

A WORD ABOUT THE LOWEST WEB PRICE
When searching Bloomberg for the stock price of IBM you can be assured that inherent in the listing is the ability to purchase the stock at that price.  Unfortunately, the same does not hold true for the wine business.  We sometimes get requests to match prices from a competitor on the web and when we go to double check that competitor's price we generally find one of two things:

1) The price exists but the wine is not available.  In other words, it's not real (we call this "Ghost Pricing").
2) The price exists but there are only a few bottles while the client is looking for a case or more.

GHOST PRICING BUSTERS
We strive to be the best wine company on the planet, a continuing goal since 1934. All the wine we sell is transported to us in refrigerated containers and stored in the world's best wine storage facility. This applies whether it's a $12 bottle or a $1200 bottle.  All wine deserves the same care. Consider this: Are there any assurances related to the overall quality and provenance of the wine from smaller internet shops?  How many times have you visited a wine retail store and the temperature inside is 55-58 degrees? We have the best and most helpful REAL PROFESSIONAL sales team and our customer service, all the way down the line to truck drivers are the best. Every aspect of your experience with us will be the best. It takes capital to create this amazing 'customer first,' 'wine first' experience, and we do it with the most competitive prices. Can a small store without proper wine storage conditions, limited quantities and suspect provenance beat us on price? Sometimes. Will you enjoy the wine more, no way!  When you buy at Sokolin, you can rest easy knowing that we have done all the ground work to make sure your wine experience is first-rate.  We guarantee it.  We want to be your family's wine merchant for generations and strive to make wine an even more pleasurable aspect of your life.

Below, are just a few recent examples of a competitor's "sale" vs. our everyday prices so you can see for yourself.