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Nectar of the Vine co-founder Dennis Hart first became involved in the food business back in 1992. After many years in the food industry, he and partner (now wife) Carol Nastasi started Nectar of the Vine in 2005. They wanted to provide a fun, new way for people to enjoy wine and began selling their wine slushy mixes to consumers.
When it came time for Dennis and Carol to retire, they passed the baton to Carol’s son, Anthony Nastasi. Anthony has since expanded the company’s wholesale business, using Faire as his primary growth channel. We recently spoke with Anthony to learn how he’s increased sales by 75%, won back 500 churned customers, and saved himself 40 hours per week — all by using Faire’s tools.
How Nectar of the Vine increased their sales by 75%
When Nectar of the Vine joined Faire in 2019, they had been wholesaling for about a year. “We were doing that classic approach to wholesale. We were doing wholesale shows, scanning badges, all of that,” Anthony told us. While this strategy was “mildly successful” according to Anthony, adding Faire as a wholesale channel has proven to be lucrative for the brand. “We started focusing more on Faire and it was awesome.”
Anthony noted that he spiffed up Nectar of the Vine’s photography for the brand’s Faire page and increased their marketing efforts. “Once we started using the Faire marketing tools, we definitely saw an increase in action to our site,” he shared.
“We’ve been reliant on the [widget] on our main page more than anything.” Using the Faire widget has allowed Anthony’s team to direct both new and existing wholesale customers to their own website, where buyers can access Faire through a simple link.
Communication with customers and quality service has also been key to the brand’s success. “Lisa, in our office, goes through the Faire message [feature] after every order and sends a message to say thank you and send along some point-of-sale graphics. That has been huge for us,” said Anthony. Using Faire every day keeps Nectar of the Vine’s customers engaged and happy.
“There are three of us who are on the Faire platform every day. We try to respond to messages within 15 minutes. People just love that — they love us being on top of it. If people need something, we send it right away.”
How they won back 500 churned customers
When Anthony started using Faire Direct, he found he was able to re-engage previous buyers and leads. “At all those trade shows, we did badge retrieval. So we uploaded all of those contacts into Faire,” Anthony told us.
Now, Nectar of the Vine directs all of their existing wholesale customers to Faire for purchasing. “Faire is our direct portal to purchase wholesale from us. We’ve implemented the link on the main page of our website. Anytime we have a potential wholesale customer, we tell them to go to the website and click Shop Wholesale,” said Anthony. They refer customers to Faire on a daily basis.
“And people who have done it say it’s easy…It’s been a mix of our customers and people who find us on social media and want to buy wholesale.”
Plus, it’s free and easy for Anthony to do. “If we’re referring somebody directly, we’re not paying a commission. It’s all been working out great,” he shared with us. “It’s quick and easy for us to refer somebody there.”
How they saved 40 hours per week
Anthony told us that the Faire platform has streamlined his order writing process, which saves his team valuable time each week.
“Those 650 events that we do a year have been cancelled — we’re not doing them,” Anthony told us. “Faire is making up almost 80% of our income right now.” This includes the brand’s direct-to-consumer revenue.
As a result of processing most of their orders through the Faire platform — which handles invoicing and payment collection on their behalf — the Nectar of the Vine team has been saving roughly 40 hours per week and $800 per month.
It’s also helped them to successfully manage new and existing customers, as well as their product catalog, all in one place. “It’s super easy. We control what [products go] up and if we need to make a change, it’s done in minutes.”
You can use the same tools that Anthony did to grow and streamline your business. Login to your Faire account and visit the Marketing and Direct tabs to get started.
