Among new selling tactics that Vinfolio is rolling out in January, the first is a 1-cent ground shipping offer for wine purchases of $500 or more. The intent is to remove the shipping "pain point" for most purchases (our average purchase is over $1,000) so that customers nationwide can make purchase decisions without regard to shipping costs. There's no promotion code to enter; we automatically apply the discount on qualifying orders. We'll be testing the effectiveness of this promotion in January and considering whether to make it a permanent benefit of buying wine from us.
Note that we already offer free delivery services in our temperature-controlled vans to customers within the San Francisco Bay Area (plus Napa/Sonoma) region. We are (from today) cutting the minimum quantity to qualify for free delivery from 12 to 6 bottles (no value requirement; note our site is not updated yet for this change). See the "Delivery Services" section of our Shipping and Delivery page for more details on weekly route schedules for different subregions.
Our local customers may use the 1-cent ground shipping offer in lieu of our free delivery service as typically Fedex delivers ground shipments within one day locally. Using our van delivery, however, allows customers to schedule a time when an adult may be present to receive the wine and for the wine to be protected from temperature issues in warm weather periods of the year.
Finally, to meet our daily Fedex deadline, wine orders need to be placed by noon (PST). Meeting this time also enables locals to pick up orders at "will call" at either of our warehouses the same day (from 3-5 pm for Napa and from 5-8 pm for San Francisco).
P.S. In case you're wondering why we're charging 1 cent instead of making shipping completely free, the CA ABC prohibits offering "free" goods to help sell alcohol.
