Guest Post: Just How Big Is Winery E-Commerce?

Today's guest post is from Andrew Kamphuis the owner of Vin | 65, which offers "solutions for managing winery websites including website design, ecommerce, content management, and customer relationship management."  It grew out of a conversation with Andrew during the holidays about whether wineries really care about actively improving their Web sites, given that most wineries see a tiny amount of revenue from e-commerce.  Andrew had some interesting information to share, so I asked him to guest blog...

We provide our e-commerce solution to over 200 wineries and wine stores (mainly through white-branded solutions).  Less than 10% of clients make up 90% of sales going through our system.  (Big surprise, ­ but it’s really lopsided).

The real surprise for you is that those 10% are really doing some giant numbers.  We aren’t talking club or allocation sales either.  The sales they are doing would rival tasting rooms.  And while I don’t know their total sales I’ll tell you, this ain’t no 5% of their gross Direct to Consumer  (DTC) sales.

I believe that a few more wineries will get 20 - 40% of their DTC sales from the web this year (2010).  I believe that online sales is the most profitable segment for a winery.  What we need to do is to get wineries to believe.

I ordered wine at several high-profile wineries right before the holidays.  My wine all shipped, but I didn’t get a single tracking e-mail ­ -- a couple of the brand sites didn't even send me an order confirmation.  I ordered wine in the tasting rooms of 10+ wineries in Napa over a month ago ­ -- not one asked me for my e-mail address.  This is all basic stuff ­ before they start optimizing the site.

I believe that until a winery makes the website a part of their business ­they won’t see numbers.   Apple, Amazon, Zappos,  etc. -- ­ these guys all send tracking info, order info, etc.  and they all encourage feedback, encourage second orders, etc.  Wineries get how to set up their tasting room to maximize customer experience, but until they maximize customer experience on the web, the web is just going to be a sad number on their sales sheet.

That’s my two-cent holiday rant.

I believe. And this year I think I will have the customer and case study to prove it. 

Thanks, Andrew! I hope to have another guest post from you in a year's time with that case study.

In the meantime, if you don't already subscribe to the Vin | 65 blog, you should.  It regularly provides similar insights into wineries on the Web.

PS - tomorrow is the last day to take my 2010 Winery Sales Survey.  Please do!