The Wine Market Council provided the company’s 10th annual presentation on U.S. wine consumer trends. Here are some of the highlights from the presentation.
According to the Wine Market Council research showed that high-frequency wine drinkers were purchasing wine from many different places:
- Wine specialty store 58%
- Supermarket/grocery 53%
- Bar/restaurant 52%
- Mass Merchandiser 34%
- Warehouse club 31%
- When visiting winery 29%
- Specialty food store 25%
- State liquor store 23%
- Online winery or retailer 9%
Research for this report showed that by generation, wine drinkers were 41% Boomers, 29% Millennials, 18% Gen X and 12% of older people. So Boomers are still the biggest audience for wine, by quite a large percentage. Additionally Boomers are also the largest share of high-frequency wine drinkers, a total of 38% with the Millennials coming in at 30% of high-frequency wine drinkers.
While you are concerned about bringing in Millennial consumers, don’t do it at the cost of your Boomer customers, who still make up the majority of your wine buyers and wine drinkers. Pull out of your customer records the breakdown of your customers by age and see how many you have in each category. The ages for three categories:
Boomers – 51-69; Gen X 39-50, Millennials 21-38.
This year the youngest of the Millennials will turn 21. As 99% of Millennials wine drinkers are now of age, how much of the sales are they responsible for at your winery? This is interesting data to have on hand and will help you get the most out of your advertising dollars by allowing you to focus your advertising and marketing on the audience that buys the most from you.
The most telling information presented in the Wine Market Council’s survey of high-frequency wine drinkers is that other alcoholic beverages (craft beer, spirits and cider) are more frequently being chosen instead of wine.
We need to be aware that we have more competition, not only from other wineries but also from other forms of alcoholic beverages. Keep marketing and keep selling if you want to stay ahead of the game.
A tip of the glass from me to you
E column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
