One of the few silver linings that has emerged from the pandemic is the boom of the ecommerce industry. Now, more than ever, consumers relied on online stores to get their essentials. Gramling, Orschell and Chernoff (2021) state that worldwide the ecommerce sector grew by 66% in 2020 compared with 2019. For many businesses, starting an ecommerce division was their saving grace.
In the wine industry especially, ecommerce allowed many small wineries to keep their doors open and the wine flowing. Social media initiatives such as SaveSAWine raised awareness about the devastating impact South Africa’s nationwide alcohol bans were having on the wine industry.
Ecommerce’s main draw card is the convenience factor, especially when it comes to the millennial and Gen Z markets. According to a study published in the International Journal of Wine Business Research, millennials and Gen Z make up 68% of wine consumers in South Africa. And while buying trends fluctuate, at the core of every millennial or Gen Z buyer is the knowledge that they can get anything they want via their phones.
Black Friday is another major driver for online sales. The annual event allows wine enthusiasts to get hugely discounted offerings from their favourite cellars. Instalment payment software such as PayJustNow and Mobicred make it possible to have your wine now and pay later. It also allows consumers to experience more high-end wines without breaking the bank.
Ecommerce is not however anything new for the wine industry. Mail-order wine clubs have been around for decades – the Wine-of-the-Month Club for instance celebrates its 36th birthday this year. “The beauty of joining the club and having your wine selected and delivered is that you get to discover new wines without feeling intimidated,” founder Collin Collard says. “And the added information you receive with regards to food pairing suggestions means that you can start building up a real knowledge of wine in the comfort of your home.”
Another benefit of online wine shopping is the variety on offer. Consumers can get a Shiraz from Stellenbosch and Chenin Blanc from Worcester delivered at the same time from the same platform. They get to taste the nation, so to speak, all from the comfort of their couches.
Platforms such as the Wine-of-the-Month Club and online stores such as Wine.co.za make this a reality for many consumers, especially those from outlying areas who don’t have the opportunity to travel long distances to their favourite cellars to buy wine. Even Vivino, an app that began as a way for wine lovers to share their tasting notes and show off their collections, has evolved into an enormous online marketplace to connect consumers and wineries. It now boasts more than 50 million community members — up from 29 million in 2018 — spread over 18 countries, Vivino co-founder and chief product officer Theis Sondergaard says. For eco-conscious consumers, online sales have another advantage – an MIT study reports that online shopping creates about half the carbon emissions of their brick-and-mortar counterparts.
Since the pandemic online sales have however been on the decline, reverting to pre-Covid levels for many producers. After being detained at home for so long, many consumers feel that visiting their favourite winery served as an escape. Consumers are returning to tasting rooms in their droves to experience wine again. And it’s not just to taste they wine, it’s also about having the human interaction that goes with it.
After lockdown, many international borders were still closed so wine routes encouraged South Africans to “become a local tourist” to boost wine tourism. Experiencing the heart and soul of a winery by having a cellar or vineyard tour and seeing the passion and dedication that go into creating their favourite wines, has always appealed to wine consumers. And for those who might not be so clued up on wine yet, visiting a winery and having this kind of wine experience is also an exceptional wine education tool.
Tasting rooms inherently amount to human-centric selling. Consumers taste the wines and get recommendations from an actual human who can answer any questions they may have. They get to try a variety of cultivars and blends on offer for a nominal fee before selecting wines to take home. Despite the rise in online wine assistants and wine recommendation algorithms, nothing comes close to recommendations from a real person. Customers are also more inclined to take recommendations on board from a human than from an artificial intelligence source.
Tasting rooms present consumers with the popular “try before you buy” sales model, which has always proved to be immensely successful. Tasting-room sales also lean into the instant gratification part of our personalities. Consumers can buy wine and take it home immediately rather than having to wait for a delivery that can take a few days. There’s also none of the administrative red tape that goes with placing an order that needs to be fulfilled, packed, handed over to a courier service and then delivered in three to five business days.
Despite the convenience of ecommerce, tasting-room sales have been on the rise since the end of the pandemic. Wine, along with wine culture, is essentially a social experience, so there will still be a need for tasting rooms and the human-centred approach. No online wine assistant or pages of wine listings can come close to the living, breathing, real person with innate wine knowledge.
Perhaps the real strength of online sales lies in ensuring wineries create returning customers by expanding the foundation the tasting room has already laid down.
Buying wine online is undoubtedly another pandemic-era shift that’s here to stay.
The future for ecommerce wine sales is bright and with the exceptional wines offered in South Africa, wineries jumping on the ecommerce bandwagon are bound to see an increase in online sales – perhaps not immediately as many consumers are still enjoying being out and about after lockdown. But then patience has always been a virtue.
*Shandré van der Merwe, tasting room manager at De Wet Cellar, is the 2022 SA New Wine Writer of the Year, a competition for people aged 35 and younger and presented by the South African National Wine Show Association (SANWSA).