Selling Wine in a Pandemic

What an insane past few years! But doesn't it feel wonderful to be moving into spring and at the same time into the endemic phase of this crisis? With fewer mask mandates now, maybe we'll be able to smell the spring flowers! But before we linger too long on the warmer days ahead, we still have some work to do. So let me take you back to the start of this crisis in 2020 when the COVID case numbers began picking up. 

At that point in time, I wrote a piece called Selling Wine in a Pandemic which is one the most-read pieces I've posted. I wrote it on March 15th, 2020 - a date that is etched in my mind and probably yours if you live in California. 

If you don't recall, that was the date Governor Newsom first issued the shelter-in-place orders and closed tasting rooms, restaurants and bars. I finished writing that blog on March 15th in the morning, but by late afternoon, I had to go back and update it when news of the lock-downs came out. 

I made several suggestions within that post on sales and marketing, including the following:

Use your marketing imagination and messaging to get consumers to buy online. It's a less expensive way to sell. And while you're at it, see if you can get new club signups in the process. There are many ideas to consider that may drive new behaviors including coupons, discounting, free tickets to future events, and gift cards that could be used on the next purchase. Figuring out how to direct people to online sales will continue to pay off even after this situation fades from the news.

That suggestion proved to be good advice as online sales that languished at 2% to 3% of total direct sales before the pandemic, exploded upward to 16.2% of direct sales at the start of 2021 (headline slide).  And by the end of 2021, I was able to report that average sales increased 21% over 2020, while internet sales managed to maintain their relative strength as a percent of sales.

That means total internet sales were also dramatically up in 2021. I also know that based on this newfound success, wineries are increasing their investment in e-commerce, and are discovering new strategies to pull club signups from that channel. Today, the tasting room isn't the only place to gain new club members. How do I know all of those facts?

Read the rest of the blog here: http://svbwine.blogspot.com/2022/03/internet-sales-are-dramatically-higher.html