According to the fine folks at ShipCompliant, 2013 saw a 9.3% increase in direct-to-consumer shipping in the US. That’s 3.47 million cases of wine with a retail value of $1.57 billion dollars. That’s a lot of wine NOT being sold in local wine shops like yours. Are you combatting this? [level-members]
You’re especially likely to feel the heat if you are doing business in California, Texas, New York, Florida or Illinois, as these states account for 60% of direct wine shipments. As you’d imagine, this isn’t plonk: the average bottle price is $37.78, which is a slight decrease from 2012.
What does this mean for independent wine shops? First, recognize that some of this market you’ll never own – these are either wines that aren’t available wholesale in your area or, they’re simply emotional purchases made by consumers who visited a winery on vacation.
Beyond that, though, you should be thinking of how to take a page right out of these same wineries’ playbook: you have to find ways to connect with consumers “on a personal level, create long-lasting relationship and retain a higher profit margin.” [/level-members]