Online sales are the biggest opportunity for wineries selling direct to consumers today.
That’s according to Wineries Direct, which provides an array of services to establish and maintain a winery’s sales effort, including point of sale (POS), third party distribution connections and e-commerce, with fulfillment software that even provides weather reports for delivery dates.
In a just-released report, Wineries Direct notes wineries can sell online 24/7 with no action required from their teams. Online selling has a high average order value ($282), low penetration (10% of total sales), high average bottles per order, and lowest barrier to entry.
Wineries Direct expects mobile traffic to winery websites to exceed 50% for the first time, noting that last year mobile orders on winery websites were up more than 30%.
Overall, WD says, point of sale revenue accounts for just over a quarter of total DtC sales. “Start with the tasting room, move on to wine club and website,” WD advises. In fact, with average order value only $110, the lowest of any channel, the real value of a tasting room is customer acquisition, WD says.
“Nearly 60% of clubs globally have fewer than 1,000 members. This is most pronounced in Australia, where that number is 80%. Even in California, the most mature wine club region, more than half of clubs are smaller than 1,000. This suggests that wine clubs have significant room to grow, even on their already robust base,” WD opines.
Wine clubs and online sales are particularly important for high-end wines selling at over $100 a bottle. A staggering 44% of sales come through clubs and online, while wines priced less than $30 are more commonly found at point of sale. “This may be because it is harder to compete at those price points with grocery store options,” the 19-page report notes.
Average order volume has slightly decreased in tasting rooms, while website orders have grown 5% since 2015, it says.