Curation as the core service
The recommendation is the product: whoever selects takes the hardest work off the customer.
Industry · Wine & gourmet
CRO for wine and gourmet: trust beats selection.
Gourmet products are bought on trust, not specification: nobody can taste before buying. The craft is in curation. Make the selection credibly on behalf of the customer and you convert above average. It is no coincidence that this category shows the highest conversion rates in our portfolio: 7 to 8 % at WeinRuhr against a Shopify average of 1.4 %.
- Audit in 7 days
- No contract upfront
- +25 % guarantee
Category metrics
Conversion rate · market
1.4–2.2 %
CVR after system rebuild*
5.0–8.0 %
Typical basket
€60–160
Return rate
1–4 %
* Ranges from managed projects, depending on traffic mix, price point and season. Market context: benchmarks.
What drives purchase decisions in Wine & gourmet
Taste in everyday language
Expert vocabulary scares beginners away. Descriptions built on occasions and associations convert more broadly.
Occasion logic
People buy for situations: gift, dinner, stock-up. Occasion navigation beats varietal navigation.
Repeat purchase through discovery
The second purchase comes from curiosity about what is next. Discovery formats are retention mechanics.
The four levers we pull first
Tasting packs as entry
The perfect tripwire: low risk, high discovery, a direct path to a full-price repeat order.
Taste quiz
Four questions about preferences replace the wine list and produce a reasoned recommendation.
Subscription as a discovery club
Monthly curation with explanation. Loyalty through curiosity instead of discounts.
Gift journeys
A significant share of revenue is gift purchases: their own journey with packaging, card and delivery-date guarantee.
The most common mistakes in Wine & gourmet shops
- Assortment without curation: 300 wines with no recommendation are 300 reasons not to decide.
- Expert language with no translation, scaring off exactly the beginners who grow the market.
- No occasion navigation (gift, dinner, stock-up).
- Shipping costs and age verification only revealed at checkout.
Frequently asked
Why do wine shops convert so differently?
Because curation is the deciding factor: shops with a clear recommendation logic reach multiples of the conversion of pure catalogue shops. Our project WeinRuhr sustains 7 to 8 % against a Shopify average of 1.4 %.
Are tasting packs worth the lower margin?
Usually yes: they cut entry risk drastically and produce a full-price repeat order with a much higher basket. What decides it is the follow-up flow. Without one, a tasting pack is a loss leader.
How important is the gift business?
Very. In gourmet categories gift purchases are a double-digit revenue share with their own logic: delivery guarantee, packaging, greeting card. A dedicated gift journey is one of the fastest levers before Q4.
What happens next
- 1
Fill in the form
Five fields, two minutes: company, shop, revenue range, platform, what is going on.
- 2
20-minute intro call
We find out whether this fits. Shops on our decline list get a decline, not a pitch.
- 3
Phase C starts
Seven days later you have your baseline, break-even ROAS and the three biggest leaks in euros. Then you decide.
No contract before Phase C. Reply within 24 hours on business days.