What is your value proposition?

I've stumbled upon your website. I'm like one of the other 60% of people on your site. It's my first time visiting... Why should I buy wine from your website? It's Christmas time, so I might be in a spending spirit, but then again the economy is down, so that spending spirit might be slightly suppressed.

According to Wikipedia, a value proposition is the sum total of benefits which a vendor promises that a customer will receive in return for the customer's associated payment. (In simple terms, what the customer gets for what the customer pays)

To me your value proposition goes a little beyond that. I know I can buy a bottle of wine from you online, and there is a good chance that I will receive a bottle of wine. To me your value proposition is your story.

• What do you stand for?
• How are you different from your competitors?
• Why are you the best choice for me?

Two weeks ago, I was in Vancouver and I was trying to buy a pair of jeans. For me I'm trying to be socially responsible and it's fairly important where my clothes are made (I try if possible to not support a sweat shop). Vancouver is full of socially responsible stores, and I walked into a jean store and found a really nice pair of jeans.  The vendor assured me the jeans were made in LA, but upon closer inspection I found the label said they were in Made in P.R.C. (Being somewhat savvy, I can tell you that Peoples Republic of China is not the same as Los Angeles).

The story behind the clothes is important to me. The story behind your wine is important to a lot of customers. It often represents the total value proposition. When there are thousands of other labels out there, one of the only ways to stand out is to tell your story. This holiday season ensure that your story is on your website.

If you don't quite understand what I mean by Story - I found this great blog post by Seth Godin which defines it a little further.