In today’s hyper-competitive retail landscape, wine shelf talkers have become nearly ubiquitous in wine retail shops around the nation. Yet, for some retailers, the whole idea of shelf talkers has become a polarizing topic. Some appreciate them for the context and content they provide to potential customers, while others feel that they detract from the store’s client-customer relationship. With that in mind, here’s a closer look at the pros and cons of shelf talkers.

Pro: Shelf talkers are a great way to communicate information about a wine to customers

In stores that have thousands of wine SKUs, shelf talkers are almost a necessity. How else are customers going to find the perfect bottle of wine? From this perspective, all of the information typically provided on a wine shelf talker – such as price, vintage and tasting notes – is vital to the final decision-making process. Some wine retailers, in fact, compare shelf talkers to customer reviews on e-commerce sites like Amazon.com. Would you ever buy a product on Amazon.com unless you can read some of the reviews and see what real buyers have to say? In the same way, the thinking goes, people simply won’t buy a bottle of wine unless they can read what real, actual wine drinkers have to say.

Con: Shelf talkers weaken the client-store relationship

However, you can take a different perspective on this matter. From this point of view, shelf talkers are weakening the client-store relationship. Why would a customer on the floor ever engage with a salesperson if all the information they need is right there on the shelf talker? So you really have to keep in mind the average clientele in your store. Do customers enjoy chatting up the sales staff and tapping into their knowledge? Or do they prefer to do their own reading and shopping, the way they would if they were buying something online?

Pro: Shelf talkers are a great way to display the knowledge of staff members

If you decide to embrace shelf talkers, you have two basic options – you can either create and print your own handmade shelf talkers based on opinions and tasting notes from your staff, or you can use those that are provided directly by the winery. In some large wine retail stores, for example, there are multiple buyers, each for a different type of wine; in turn, each of these buyers might be responsible for coming up with their own tasting notes and ideas. In other cases, the wine shop will open up the creation of shelf talkers to informed and knowledgeable staff members, who can express their own opinions and ideas. For wine retail stores that take a great deal of pride in the level of service that they provide, shelf talkers have become a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.

Con: Shelf talkers can create both visual and information overload

OK, the thinking goes, it’s great if staff members create a few shelf talkers for wines that are truly memorable or distinctive. But what happens when (literally) every bottle of wine in the shop has a shelf talker? That could lead to a case of both visual and information overload. In other words, there’s just too much to see and read. It can already be plenty daunting for customers to walk into a 20,000 square foot retail experience - and now you want them to spend a lot of time reading through all those shelf talkers?

Pro: Shelf talkers are great at providing context, not just content, for wine enthusiasts

There are different styles of shelf talkers. The typical ones provided by the wineries are usually fairly generic - they might have the vintage, the price and maybe a score if the wine is highly rated. But shelf talkers created by store staff members can be much more quirky, fun and even humorous. Some wine buyers enjoy this very eclectic approach, and soon begin to recognize the “voice” of favourite staff members. They enjoy it when they find out how a certain wine is part of a funny anecdote, or how certain wine ties into a particular movie or song. They appreciate the time and effort that goes into making every shelf talker seem unique.

Con: Shelf talkers can be a serious drain on staff resources

Yes, it’s great if staff members are creating all these fun, quirky shelf talkers but… couldn’t their time be better spent doing something else? This “con” view of shelf talkers sees them as an unneeded distraction. That’s especially true for smaller retail stores, which simply might not have the staffing resources to do this.

Pro: Shelf talkers are great at helping customers narrow down their choices

In smaller wine shops, shelf talkers might still be a nice-to-have. However, in huge retail stores with thousands of different SKUs, shelf talkers can play a very valuable role. In fact, some retail stores view shelf talkers as their “secret weapon” - a sort of bonus salesperson who is available at any time to make the final sale. And, indeed, the evidence shows that wines with shelf talkers tend to sell better than wines without shelf talkers.

Con: Shelf talkers make it harder to cross-sell and up-sell customers

While wine shelf talkers might be fantastic at selling one unique bottle of wine, just how successful are they in selling multiple bottles of wine? The job of a great salesperson is to make great recommendations, while also making it easier for customers to add an extra bottle or two to their purchase list: Oh, you would like to try a wine from Spain? You should see some of the new wines from Spain that just arrived last week. At the end of the day, the goal of a wine shop is to sell as much wine as it can, preferably with wines that have the highest margins possible. Shelf talkers may - or may not - help to push forward that goal.

As you can see, every “pro” of shelf talkers can be countered with a “con.” That’s what makes them so polarizing within the wine industry. If you are just getting started with them, you might want to try shelf talkers provided from the wineries first to see how customers respond, and whether they actually help to move any product. From there, you can branch out into custom, highly personalized shelf talkers made by your staff members and wine buyers. Most likely, you’ll discover what most wine retail shops have discovered: shelf talkers are not going to disappear any time soon, and as long as they are around, they can help you to sell more wine.