5. Sam’s Club could Promote their Member’s Mark Wines with Mini Bottle Samplers

Pain Point: Wine shoppers have minimal knowledge of wine which leads to low product satisfaction.

Consumers spend an average of 12% or more if they have studied wine for 1 day or more. source
People who shop for wine are open to learning more and expanding their palette. source

Insights: How Might We increase customers’ education about different wines to make accurate wine purchases?

The 50ml alcohol bottles are used for promotional deals, airplanes, and even used as samplers for professional tastings. source
These samplers contain enough product to have an accurate taste of the spirit.

Solution: Promoting Member’s Mark Wines with Mini Wine Bottle Samplers

Sam’s club could start providing a box with mini wine bottle samplers that promote the Member’s Mark wines. By providing these sample-sized Member’s Mark wines, members can taste the different wines that Sam’s Club provides without having to purchase the full bottle and commit to it. The samples allow the member to know what bottle they want to buy and evidently increase their product satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Sam’s club could also provide these mini bottles to airline and hotel companies as a service add-on for higher class trips, similar to how airlines and hotels provide mini versions of alcohol as a service feature. Then people would be able to order Member's Mark wines on their flight.

Who, What, Wow:

Customers who want to make an accurate wine purchase can try the wine samplers before committing to the full bottle and be 5x more influenced to purchase a wine bottle. source

This storyboard showcases the process:

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You don't know which wines to get.

You grab the 6 mini samplers to find your favorite wine.

You taste all of them and choose your favorites.

You buy the wine you KNOW you love.

Results:

This idea did make it to the final ranks of ideas when overlooking the 80 ideas presented by everyone. However, when passing it through the 6 thinking hats, we decided that it was not innovative enough to present to the Director of Innovation.

Quick Overview

Yellow Hat: It could increase product satisfaction by allowing customers to find their wine preferences without spending more money and could increase Member’s Mark sales.

Black Hat: This idea is already being done and Sam’s Club would have to put costs into creating new bottle sizes.

Green Hat: This product could be used as a membership reward or be included in a recurring subscription service for members.