Cart Abandonment and Churn When Customers Hit State Shipping Roadblocks

$30,000–$150,000 per year in missed wine-club conversions and reduced ticket size from visitors in restricted states whose signups or shipments are blocked at the last minute. • $40,000–$250,000 per year in lost and downgraded wine-club memberships as prospects in restricted states abandon signup and existing members churn or reduce commitment after encountering shipping roadblocks. • $50,000–$300,000+ per year in lost customer lifetime value from abandoned carts, declined club signups, and churn among members in restricted or no-ship states who switch to local options after a bad checkout experience.

DTC team and cellar staff manually reference state-by-state shipping charts, carrier matrices, and permit lists to decide if they can ship, then adjust orders by hand (changing products, quantities, or address) or ask the guest to pick up onsite; in many cases they simply tell the customer, via phone/email, that shipping is unavailable and abandon the transaction. • Hospitality Coordinator and DTC team manually juggle which states and products to promote by referencing state shipping grids, Free the Grapes/Wine Institute maps, and ShipCompliant/VinoShipper dashboards, then adjust website messaging, promo lists, and club offers by hand to avoid embarrassing last‑minute blocks at checkout. • Tasting room associates consult printed state maps, laminated compliance sheets, or an internal spreadsheet, then manually change shipping states, suggest shipping to a friend in another state, downgrade quantities, or fall back to 'pickup only' and hope the guest agrees; often they simply drop the signup when the conversation gets awkward.