Allison Luvera and Lauren De Niro Pipher are the Co-Founders of Juliet Wine, where they’re redefining boxed wine with award-winning California varietals and eco-conscious cylindrical packaging that challenges the category’s decades-old perception. Allison is an award-winning brand builder with a dual BS in Finance and Marketing from Boston College, an MBA from The Wharton School, and WSET Level 2 Certification in Wine. She’s also a founding member of the Alternative Packaging Alliance, a coalition of high-end boxed wine brands dedicated to advancing sustainable packaging in the wine industry.

Lauren brings nearly two decades of sales, business development, investor relations, and design expertise from leading roles at Virgin Galactic, Uber, and Douglas Elliman, along with a BS in Culture & Communications from NYU and a Sustainability Certification from Cambridge University’s Judge School of Business.

Before launching Juliet, Allison built a career leading brand strategy, design, and storytelling for premium products, earning a reputation for transforming overlooked categories into high-value lifestyle experiences. Lauren honed her skills in building relationships, scaling sales, and translating brand vision into tangible growth. Together, they’ve created a brand that blends “affordable luxury” with modern consumer expectations and a design-first approach that stands apart from traditional boxed wine.

In this episode, Allison and Lauren share how they spotted an opportunity to reimagine boxed wine, why they launched DTC first to prove product-market fit, and how they tested seven price points to find the sweet spot before expanding to retail. They also reveal how early customer data shaped their go-to-market strategy and helped secure high-quality retail partners who understood Juliet’s unique value.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:40] Intro
• [01:07] Highlighting sustainability as a core advantage
• [01:58] Reimagining a category for modern consumers
• [03:46] Meeting evolving consumer demands head-on
• [05:21] Sourcing partners to match product vision
• [06:55] Reframing consumer perceptions of boxed wine
• [09:03] Prototyping early to speed market entry
• [09:20] Testing multiple price points before scaling
• [11:47] Episode Sponsors: Electric Eye, Heatmap, Zamp
• [15:44] Adjusting pricing after early market feedback
• [17:33] Making decisions to drive progress forward
• [19:21] Proving product-market fit to win distributors
• [20:48] Proving demand before pitching big retailers
• [21:10] Meeting online customers where they are
• [22:38] Boosting AOV with strategic bundles

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Eco-friendly and delicious luxury boxed wine drinkjuliet.com/
• Follow Allison Luvera linkedin.com/in/allisonluvera
• Follow Lauren De Niro Pipher linkedin.com/in/iamldp
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Clear, real-time data built for ecommerce optimization heatmap.com/honest
• Fully managed sales tax solution for Ecommerce brands zamp.com/honest

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Marielle Bobo is the VP of Content at Shoptalk Spring and Fall, where she curates programming and secures industry-leading speakers to spark the most important conversations in retail and ecommerce. She’s spent 25 years in cross-platform media, serving as Editor-in-Chief & SVP of Programming at EBONY, Fashion Director at Essence, and shaping fashion, beauty, and retail narratives at Womenswear Daily, Allure, and Cosmopolitan.

Before taking the helm at Shoptalk’s content strategy, Marielle built a career telling stories that resonate: across print, digital, video, and live events, earning a reputation for translating trends into actionable insights. That lens now drives how she programs Shoptalk, ensuring attendees walk away with strategies they can implement immediately.

Marielle shares what’s different about Shoptalk Fall this year compared to year one, the genesis of the brand-new Leadership track, and why now is the moment for retail leaders to think differently about org design, planning, and agility. She also reveals which sessions ecommerce store owners and DTC brands can’t afford to miss, plus how her editorial background influences the way she curates content for maximum impact.

Whether she’s explaining how to navigate a packed agenda or uncovering the most relevant themes for today’s volatile retail landscape, Marielle offers a candid look at how great content can transform an industry event into a growth engine.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:40] Intro
• [01:01] Exploring global event series for innovators
• [02:05] Kicking off with immersive retail experiences
• [04:13] Planning your conference strategy in advance
• [06:20] Recapping key learnings before the show ends
• [09:50] Learning from leading retail and DTC brands
• [11:51] Finding solutions through casual conversations
• [12:58] Highlighting brick-and-mortar’s role in Ecommerce

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Organizing retail’s industry’s very best events shoptalk.com/
• Providing senior execs workshops, strategy sessions, Chicago retail tours, insights from 130+ leaders, and targeted connections fall.shoptalk.com/
• Follow Marielle Bobo linkedin.com/in/marielle-bobo

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Hannah Ruhamah Crum is the Founder of Kombucha Kamp, the leading education platform and Ecommerce brand for homebrewed kombucha. She’s also the co-author of The Big Book of Kombucha and the cofounder and former president of Kombucha Brewers International, where she’s helped shape industry standards for fermentation and transparency.

Before launching Kombucha Kamp, Hannah was a language teacher and aspiring actress who stumbled into kombucha at a raw food restaurant in San Francisco. A single sip turned into a full-blown obsession, leading her to teach local brewing classes out of her apartment, blog about the gut microbiome, and ship SCOBYs from her kitchen table before launching a full Ecommerce operation.

Hannah shares how she followed inbound demand signals to grow from DIY educator to industry leader, why homemade kombucha is different from store-bought, and how she scaled without outside capital. She also unpacks how COVID reshaped her business overnight, why she walked away from a quarter-million-dollar facility, and what she's learned about managing people without formal training.

Whether she’s explaining what it means to be a “bacteria farmer” or how her belief in gut health intersects with spiritual wellness, Hannah offers a candid look at what it takes to build a mission-driven CPG brand from scratch.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:40] Intro
• [01:15] Selling starter kits not just products
• [02:34] Discovering a product by total accident
• [04:56] Blogging to fix misinformation online
• [06:16] Podcasting early to build brand authority
• [09:05] Reclaiming gut health through real food
• [10:44] Episode Sponsors: Electric Eye, Heatmap, Zamp
• [14:42] Protecting tradition through policy advocacy
• [18:51] Rebuilding ops with a lighter footprint
• [21:30] Outsourcing production for better margins
• [23:02] Building loyalty with rewards that convert

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Providing free information and education about Kombucha kombuchakamp.com
• Follow Hannah Ruhamah Crum linkedin.com/in/hannahcrumla
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Clear, real-time data built for ecommerce optimization heatmap.com/honest
• Fully managed sales tax solution for Ecommerce brands zamp.com/honest

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!