[vc_row full_screen_section_height=”no”][vc_column][vc_column_text]The world of wine has undergone great, if not enormous, changes over the last ten years. The wine regions have changed – with many Champagne houses investing in the south of the United Kingdom – the winemaking techniques have changed – hyper-barricaded wines are now thankfully just a memory – but so have the tastes, with full-bodied products giving way to leaner wines, and finally, the marketing channels have also changed, the way in which wine gets from the producer to the consumer.
In fact, if a decade ago the lion's share was played by GDO, large-scale organised distribution – albeit with different products such as, for example, bag in box compared to organic and sparkling wines that find ample space on today's shelves, as demonstrated by the Iri data presented at Vinitaly – today technology has led to a slow but constant growth of the online channel.
However, this channel presents important differences from country to country.
Let's start with Italy.
How well does e-commerce work in Italy?
Not much, according to the statistics.
While the costs of opening an e-commerce site are low, the necessary investments are not, so much so that 90% of e-commerce sites do not generate profits and those that do have an extremely low conversion rate, ranging from 1% to 3%.
According to a 2015 research by Tannico.it, the largest online sales site in Italy, online wine sales in the Bel Paese are minimal: we are talking about a rate of 0.2% of total wine sales – a tenth compared to the world average of around 1.8% and much lower than the European average which sees Germany at 2.3%, France at 5.8% and the United Kingdom at 6.8%.
A trend that does not seem to have changed in this two-year period, as confirmed by research conducted by Fleishman Hillard ( here the link ) which investigated the online presence of the top 32 Italian wineries by turnover.
It turned out that only 3 out of 32 use their own e-commerce channel.
A still unexplored market but with great potential which, according to a recent analysis by Economy Up (here the link ) is worth 10 billion euros in Italy and 250 billion worldwide.
Why then is the e-commerce channel not taking off?
First of all, it must be taken into consideration that Italy is a country of cell phones rather than fixed PCs and broadband, so the potential growth of e-commerce must start first of all from an adaptation and a design mobile-friendly which makes online ordering quick and easy, even from your smartphone.
The second factor is certainly due to the widespread presence of producers on national soil; from the survey presented by Tannico at the last Vinitaly, on a panel of consumers equal to 50 thousand consumers - the largest used so far - the big brands are the winners.
A recent study conducted by Nomisma Wine together with the online wine shop Vino75.com investigated average price and buyer profile.
The data shows that the average price, VAT included, is around 13 euros, but exceeds 14 for still reds and sparkling wines.
As for buying habits, it turns out that the Millennials group buys more expensive bottles than the 36-55 and 56-66 age groups.
In fact, Millennials spend around 16 euros for a red wine, a figure that is even exceeded if they buy bubbles.
At the opposite end of the spectrum from Italy is China, where the online channel accounts for 27% of sales.
The great proposals for collaboration for the sale of Italian wine have arrived and continue to arrive from China: from Jack Ma, head of Alibaba, to the distribution giant O2O (Online to Offline) which recently entered into a collaboration with Vinitaly.
( here the link )
[/ Vc_column_text] [/ vc_column] [/ vc_row]