Women of the Vine & Spirits, the world’s leading organization dedicated to empowering and advancing women in the alcohol beverage industry, launched new Corporate Membership benefits that support women-owned businesses and supplier diversity programs.
Corporate Members of Women of the Vine & Spirits who are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by a woman and become certified by WBENC or WEConnect International as a Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE), have the ability to apply for the Women of the Vine & Spirits Certified Women Owned Logo and will be featured in the Certified Women Owned Database.
In the U.S., 71% of wine retail purchases are currently made by women. A study conducted by Walmart, America’s largest retailer, found 90% percent of female customers in the U.S. would go out of their way to purchase products from women. A recent study by Wine Intelligence and Women of the Vine & Spirits showed that women are more likely to purchase wines made by female winemakers when this fact is consciously pointed out to them in an explicit way.
“Women control over $20 trillion of annual consumer spending globally and trillions of dollars are spent worldwide annually on diverse suppliers, yet less than one percent goes to women-owned companies,” said Deborah Brenner, Founder & CEO of Women of the Vine & Spirits. “Certification is key to getting visible. It is our goal to create a movement of support in the three-tier system for women-owned businesses and be the go-to resource in the alcohol beverage industry.”
The first three Corporate Members to be approved and take advantage of the new benefits: Opici Family Distributing, GAP Promo and BuzzBallz, LLC.