Traditional clubs can be a hostage situation for members

The frustration of being an out-of-state member really hit me about a year ago, when a Florida member I signed up got their first shipment of 4 bottles. They sent an email requesting their shipments be consolidated into one per year because of the shipping costs and weather considerations. I couldn’t believe my own words, “Sorry, but our system isn’t set up to do that”. It’s the same when a customer buys 2 cases of wine and joins the club, only to find out they are obligated to buy at least 16 more bottles over the next year. They literally just bought 2 cases!

They can also be an unnecessary burden on wineries.

But, the burden isn’t just on the customers. Club shipments are no fun for wineries either. Depending on the size of the club, a winery may have to pay for an expensive fulfillment center just because of “wine club month”. They have to make sure they have enough selected wines in stock to fulfill club commitments, otherwise they’re excluded and have to sold by other means. Then there’s the special requests, bad credit cards, weather holds, out-of-towners, etc… It seems like every club month brings with it a “ship and pray” attitude. Pray the wine gets to the customer…and they don’t cancel.

So, why not just be honest?

Now, I know there are work-arounds and different CRMs have different options, but let’s face it. These one size fits all systems are a pain point for both customer and winery. So, it got me to thinking. Why are we doing this? When you think about it, what is a wine club anyway? It is simply a commitment to buy X amount wine over Y amount of time in order to get some combination of discounts, perks, and/or access in return. So, why does that mean we have to hold the customer hostage? They know what the deal is. If the customer is on the fence about whether they want to make the commitment, forcing them into a one year obligation with an arbitrary shipping schedule isn’t any more attractive. Why can’t we just be straight forward about it and let the customer control their own benefits…on their own time?

Introducing the “upside down” wine club.

That’s why I came up with LiberoVino. To liberate customers from the bondage of a wine club, freeing them to control their own benefits. LV literally turns a traditional wine club upside down by:

*ALTV = Annualized Lifetime Value

The 4 principles of LiberoVino.

LV is simply an offer for a qualified customer to join a program that provides defined benefits towards future purchases based on their initial purchase or ALTV. The basic concept is nothing new. Many retailers offer future discount incentives. What makes LV different is how it leverages traditional wine club tiers to incentivize members to increase their benefits for longer periods of time. The more you buy, the more you save. I designed LV to operate on 4 principles:

1. Qualification (Zero-Touch Loyalty): Customers don’t just “pick a tier”—they earn it based on real spending (ALTV). Your system rewards your best customers automatically without manual oversight.
2. Duration (Clean Lists, Active Members): Benefits are tied to activity. If a customer stops purchasing, perks expire. This keeps your loyalty program focused on active, high-value members.
3. Gamification (Increasing Share of Wallet): Use built-in upgrade systems to incentivize customers to “buy up” to unlock deeper discounts or exclusive drops.
4. Communication (The End of ‘Ship and Pray’): Automated syncing with Klaviyo or Mailchimp ensures customers are always informed about their benefits and upcoming expirations, turning a “transactional” relationship into an “engaged” one.

Learn more about how to use LiberoVino

With no “whataboutisms”

What about your existing wine clubs? Keep them. LV is designed to work along side your existing wine clubs as an alternative for customers that love your wine, but are not ready for a traditional club commitment. Since LV uses the same club Commerce7 club objects, you can even migrate customers between the two programs. For instance:

• If a customer cancels a traditional club because they have too much time, offer them an extended LV tier where there are benefits with no obligation. Stay connected. They’ll need more eventually.
• If a customer complains about LV expiration notices, offer them a traditional club tier that never expires where everything is automatic. Some customers just want simplicity.

Learn more about how to sell LiberoVino

What about allocation-based clubs? LV has you covered there, too. Commerce7 already supports club-restricted products. Using LV upgrades, LV can be used to automatically expand access to wines based on purchase activity. LV is designed with the flexibility to meet the needs of any size winery and all of their customer types.

Learn more about suggested LiberoVino club tiers

Join the evolution!

We’re currently looking for a limited number of Commerce7 wineries to help us refine the evolution of wine clubs. Join the beta at no cost and help us build the future of DtC loyalty. I built this because I’m tired of seeing great wineries lose great members over bad logistics. Let’s fix the math of wine loyalty together. Sign up here