A just-released analysis for WineDirect finds the top 10% of wineries that collect accurate customer data in a tasting room will earn an additional 50% in online sales beyond what the customer spent in the tasting room. But the 10% of wineries that don’t collect data or correct inaccurate data will earn less than 10% in additional sales online.
The report, produced in association with Enolytics, used Wine Direct’s 162-million-order database. Other findings:
- The DTC space does not align with the “doom and gloom” of some reports regarding the health and future of the wine industry at large. Obviously, this report is specific to DTC and does not reflect a 360-degree view of the industry. But for DTC, the trends are decidedly positive.
- The percentage of women as DTC wine consumers is growing faster than men. In addition, Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X combined accounted for about 55% of Net Sales in 2021.
- While Tasting Room sales came to a halt in March 2020, the start of the pandemic, website sales skyrocketed. In mid-June 2021, Tasting Rooms reopened to pent-up demand, with sales exceeding pre-pandemic levels. At this point, one might have thought that website sales would settle back down, but they didn’t. Instead, they maintained an increased pace through all of 2021.
- Tasting Room sales are more susceptible to conditions such as the pandemic and wildfires and show the most variability. Club sales, however, have been the most stable and remained the largest channel by revenue.
- The shift to website sales has stuck, settling at a level that far exceeds pre-pandemic highs.
- Repeat buyers are critical. Almost 94% of DTC net sales from March to May 2020 was generated by Club members and repeat buyers.
The study goes on to contain a number of specific recommendations to winery operators including doubling down on DTC, learning and applying the lessons of the pandemic, and pay attention to all DTC channels.