As 2021 comes to an end, it’s important to reflect and understand what happened for the wine industry and what that looks like when it comes to data. It’s no surprise there was a lot of growth seen throughout the year, but where was the growth happening, and what trends did we see?
To answer these questions, we sat down with Commerce7 and WISE Academy to discuss trends and data throughout the year. We understand that with a busy time of year, not everyone was able to attend our webinar, so we wanted to give you a quick overview of the insights discussed.
Sales by Region and Channel
Overall, it has been a good year for the industry, all regions DTC sales are +21% from 2020 to 2021.
Key Highlights:
There has been strong performance and recovery in the Napa region. In fact, tasting room sales in Napa are up 103%
While online sales are down 17% DTC sales overall are still up 21%
2021 vs 2019
With 2020 a year of uncertainty, shutdowns, and change, we wanted to look at 2021 vs 2019 for comparison.
Key Highlights:
Wineries have adapted well to all of the changes seen throughout the last two years. 2021 DTC sales are up 29% compared to 2019.
The consistent overachiever is Oregon, this region had a good year in 2020, and 2021 and sales are up overall by 44%. Wineries in Oregon are growing their sales faster than any other region.
85% of wineries have increased their DTC sales and many wineries are enjoying steady growth.
Online Sales Analysis
While online sales are down 17% in 2021 versus 2020, when you look at 2021 compared to 2019 - you will see a 158% increase for online sales. Overall, 30% of wineries have increased their online sales versus 2020.Tasting Room AnalysisTasting room sales are up 68% from 2021 vs 2020. Comparing 2021 against 2019 shows that tasting room sales are up +19%. While tasting room sales are up, 29% of wineries do have lower tasting room sales compared to 2019. This can be due to reservation-only bookings, the number of days that the wineries are closed, and so on.
Wine Club Analysis
New Club Signup Year-Over-Year Comparison
2021 vs 2020: Signups are up + 45%
2021 vs 2019: Signups are up + 9.3%
Attrition Rate
2019: 22.5%
2020: 19.7%
2021: 20%
Active Members Growth
2019: Active members are up + 7.9%
2020: Active members were down - 3%
2021: Active members are up + 8.3%
Key Highlights:
80% of wineries have increased their memberships in 2021
The attrition rate was stable compared to 2020
Strong Tasting Room traffic in 2021 contributed to the increase of sign-ups (and more online sign-ups too)
DTC Channel Insights from Commerce7
During our conversation, Zach Kamphuis from Commerce7 presented new insights across DTC channels. Let’s take a look at what some of the findings presented were.
Club Insights
For edited packages, there is an 18% increase in order value and a 26% increase in SKU count. It’s clear, the more options and flexibility wineries can provide, the larger the order value and more products sold.
74% of clubs are user choice
67% shipments are user choice
32% of wineries are trying subscriptions
eCommerce
When online shopping experiences were positive for consumers, it quickly resulted in a change in behaviour and the way they purchase. More one-time purchasers are quickly becoming repeat buyers.
Data Insights:
48% of mobile checkouts are 1-click checkouts
62% of desktop checkouts are 1-click checkouts
15% of wineries use personalization
47% “add to cart” clicks come from a personalized page
Overall, there is a 5.9% increase in “add-to-cart” click conversion from a personalized page.
Tasting Room
23% of orders have a customer record
77% of orders do not have a customer record
Email Impact
23.8% chance a customer makes a web order in the future
13.6 chance a customer signs up for a club in the future
More insights from Commerce7 here.
Tasting Room Predictions for 2021 from WISE
The great news tasting rooms, traffic is back. However, labour challenges and shortages have created a challenge for many wineries.
Advice from the experts:
Map out the guest experience with the staff that you do have and utilize the days that you have appropriate staffing. It’s about adapting to this new reality and making the most of what you can do well.
Leverage the visitors that you do have, find multiple ways to give them a reason to stay in touch.
The majority of wineries that have shifted to reservation only are staying there. It’s critical that staff collect information from all those visiting, not only the person that created the original reservation. It’s important that all guests are engaged and encouraged to interact with your brand after they leave the tasting room.
More insights and predictions from WISE here.
---While we covered a lot of insights and information, we covered even more during the webinar. To get access to all of the year-end metrics and trends, check out the full recording here.