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Case Study
Powering In-Store Success at Scale with Palaterra
How a Large National Wine Supplier Uses a Texas Agency and Palaterra to Drive Retail Wins
Client: Large National Wine Supplier
Interviewee: Christie, Regional Customer Development Manager
Markets Covered: Texas
Agency Partner: Texas agency
Platform: Palaterra
Overview
A large national wine supplier relies heavily on in-store tastings to drive awareness, encourage trial, and support retail performance across a diverse portfolio of brands.
As a regional leader overseeing hundreds of monthly events in Texas, Christie uses a Texas agency and the Palaterra platform to improve visibility, streamline execution, and help demonstrate the impact of in-store tastings.
With significant annual investment in retail activation, success depends on accurate reporting, inventory insights, and the ability to turn field activity into a clear retail story. Palaterra helps make that possible.
Challenges
- Scaling Events Across Retailers
Christie manages hundreds of tastings each month across multiple retailers. Manual tracking and inconsistent reporting from different partners can make analysis, follow-up, and buyer storytelling difficult.
- Low-Visibility Stores at Risk
Slower-turning stores often need additional support to help protect shelf position and avoid potential SKU discontinuation.
- Data Gaps from Mandated Demo Companies
Some retailers require specific demo agencies, and those agencies may have limited reporting capabilities. This can create fragmented data and make it harder to get a complete view of program performance.
- Limited Time for Analysis
Christie’s lean team needs fast, structured data they can confidently use in internal reporting and retailer-facing presentations.
The Solution
Palaterra + Texas Agency
By working with a Texas agency and using the Palaterra platform, Christie gained a more structured and scalable way to manage tastings across Texas.
Unlike basic spreadsheet-based reporting, Palaterra provides organized, searchable data that can be used more easily in internal reporting, distributor conversations, and buyer-facing presentations.
Strategic Use Cases of Tastings
Palaterra supports Christie’s team across three important objectives:
- Supporting At-Risk SKUs in Low-Traffic Stores
Palaterra’s event-level data helps show real consumer engagement, tasting activity, and sales impact — giving the supplier stronger support when discussing SKU performance with retailers.
- Creating Pull for New Product Launches
Consumer feedback and event performance data from Palaterra can complement syndicated sales data, helping the team better understand how new products are performing in-store.
- Timing Events Around Retailer Reporting Cycles
Tastings can be scheduled to align with key reporting windows. Palaterra helps ensure each event is captured, measured, and connected to a broader retail performance story.
Christie’s Favorite Palaterra Features
- Retail Buyer Presentations
Palaterra’s summary dashboards help Christie and her team clearly communicate tasting impact and show how events support retail performance.
- Inventory Issue Reporting
Christie uses Palaterra’s inventory insights to identify stockouts or product availability issues and share those findings with distributor partners to improve execution.
- Standardized Reports Across Agencies:
Christie sees value in using Palaterra across multiple Texas demo partners to create more consistent reporting and a more complete view of field activity.
Opportunities for Expansion & Innovation
- Better Inventory Tracking
Christie wants greater visibility into beginning and ending inventory so her team can better distinguish between products that were sold out and products that were never available. Palaterra’s AI reporting now supports this type of insight.
- Ambassador Gamification
Performance-based recognition and incentives for brand ambassadors could further improve engagement and execution quality in the field.
- TEAM Reporting Service
Because Christie’s team has limited bandwidth, Palaterra’s TEAM reporting service could help automate tailored reports for retail buyers and internal stakeholders.
Results & Outcomes
- Hundreds of tastings executed monthly
- Buyer presentations enhanced with structured performance data
- Strategic demo planning aligned with key reporting cycles
- Stronger feedback loop between retail, distributor, agency, and brand teams
- Improved visibility into execution, inventory, and consumer response
Palaterra has helped us move from disconnected spreadsheets to structured, impactful data that makes tastings more strategic — not just another marketing expense.
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The brands winning in retail aren’t just executing more.
They are learning more
and acting faster.
Palaterra gives brand teams and agencies the visibility they need to turn tasting activity into clear, actionable insights that support better execution, stronger retail conversations, and improved performance.
