Sept. 3, 2024 – Napa Valley, California — More than 9,100 wine consumers, primarily wine club members, from across the U.S. responded to Wine Market Council’s recent Wine Club/DTC Consumer Survey. The purpose of the survey was to gather feedback from consumers on what they liked and disliked about winery visits, wine clubs and winery communication methods.
In a deeper analysis of the data, WMC researchers identified several surprising findings about how wine consumers are changing, and potential actions wineries may want to consider in executing their DTC strategy.
1) More Multicultural Consumers Express Interest in Visiting Wineries – – It may not be surprising that 83% of wine club consumers in the study reported being White -Caucasian, but only 24 % of them said they intend to visit wineries this year. This may be due to a “been there, done this,” attitude, and is reflected in lower wine tourism numbers this year. However a larger percentage of multicultural club members (Black = 58%, Hispanic = 39% and Asian = 38%) reported an intention to visit wineries, which suggests an excellent opportunity for wineries to do more outreach marketing to multicultural consumers encouraging regional visitation.
2) Consumers Want a Variety of Experiences When Visiting Wineries – more than 50% of the consumers said the most important thing they look for when visiting a winery is a variety of tasting experiences, with 48% especially asking to taste older or rare wines. This presents an opportunity to expand the different types of tasting experiences offered at a winery, and to create a wine library program and/or craft a rare barrel or two that is reserved only for winery visitors. Also consider adding a wider range of tasting prices, themes and allotted times.
3) Growing Interest in Mobile/Pop-up Wine Club Events – Only 32% of this national survey of wine club/DTC consumers report attend events at the winery, but 2% (182 consumers) joined a wine club after attending a winery event in their region. This suggests that there is more opportunity for wineries to take their events “on the road,” and schedule tastings in key cities across the U.S. Also a higher percentage of multicultural consumers reported joining wine clubs at regional events, creating another reason to take your wine show on the road.
4) Consumers More Open to Texting Communication from Winery – surprisingly 19% of consumers reported they are open to receiving texts from a winery about their club shipments. This is much higher than previously reported, and is most likely due to the fact that many consumers receive texts about Amazon or subscription shipments, so they appreciate it from a winery. However, it is not recommended that wineries do advertising via text, but it is a good way to connect with DTC consumers about shipments, and include an opt-out option.
5) Flexibility and Free Shipping Important Motivators to Join a Wine Club – after discounts (which are very common), the next two most important motivators to join a wine club are flexibility in choosing the wines they want, as well as free shipping. For wineries who don’t currently offer these two benefits, they may want to consider doing so, and/or create a wine subscription club. Subscriptions are very popular with consumers now, especially young adults. Flexibility and built in shipping costs are usually how subscriptions differentiate themselves from wine clubs. Shipping 2 to 4 half bottles of wines on a quarterly basis, with the option to purchase a whole bottle at a discount could be a great way to attract new consumer segments, at a lower entry cost.
6) Club Members Need More Occasions to Open Bottles – 39% of respondents reported they are “accumulating wines faster than my household or guests can drink them.” Over one-fifth (22%) of club members say they have dropped out of some winery clubs because they had accumulated “too much wine.” Wineries should consider communications or social media postings designed to spur consumption of club wines specifically. Some ideas include updates on how well a bottle they might have in their cellar is aging, easy recipes designed to match past shipments, DIY tastings for a party or guests, lists of BYO restaurants in their area, gift options, or rewards for the most interesting/entertaining Instagram pic of a consumption occasion. Wine Market Council lists many unique “wine occasions” in their new ‘Wine Is…’ social media campaign, which are free for any wine business to copy and repost in newsletters or online.
About Wine Market Council
Wine Market Council (WMC) is a non-profit trade organization that has been conducting research on the U.S. wine consumer for more than 25 years. Members have access to cutting-edge research on the U.S. wine consumer, along with member webinars, newsletters, access to data files and statistics, and other benefits,
Membership starts as low as $400 per year, depending on the size of your organization. Members include wineries, distributors, growers, importers, regional, national, and international trade associations, and affiliates. For more information on membership and costs, please see https://winemarketcouncil.com/join/.
