Tag Archives: e-commerce

Pandemic or no, e-commerce wine is here to stay

eric schwartzman
“It’s all about ease of use. Consumers want to use as few clicks as possible.”

Eric Schwartzman: “The rule book was written in the 1930s, and it’s all out of date”

There’s e-commerce, and then there’s e-commerce in the wine business, and sometimes it seems like the two are completely different propositions.

Until now, says Eric Schwartzman, a digital marketing consultant and the author of “The Digital Pivot: Secrets of Online Marketing.” His take: The pandemic put the final kibosh on the three-tier system and its century-old restrictions that make it difficult when it’s not illegal to buy wine on-line. And, says Schwartzman, it’s just a matter of time until the walls come tumbling down.

“The rule book was written in the 1930s, and it’s all out of date,” says Schwartzman, who has seen first-hand the difficulties in selling wine over the Internet while consulting for a California winery during the pandemic. “It’s amazing that it hasn’t kept up with technology – and even for alcohol. If you can do that, everything gets easier.”

That’s one of the things that retailers found out during the pandemic, he says. Despite the handicaps they faced, whether legal restrictions or websites that weren’t designed for much more than browsing and showing Google maps, retailers found that e-commerce was more than just a bonus.

“I know I talked to retailers in many categories who saw what happened,” he says, “and who wished they knew more about digital, that they been to digital quicker.”

And wine e-commerce could bring retailers business they didn’t know existed. Says Schwartzman: “It’s all about ease of use. Consumers want to use as few clicks as possible. They don’t want to be hassled by popups or diversions. They don’t want a site that looks like it came from the dinosaurs. They truly do judge a website by its cover.”

As such, there is momentum today – from both retailers and consumers – to reform three-tier that may not have existed before. We’ve noted this before on the blog – and that someone from outside of wine has noticed the same thing speaks volumes.

Winebits 676: Prosecco, tariff, e-commerce

proseccoThis week’s wine news: Top Italian producer says cheap Prosecco is undermining the market, plus chefs oppose wine tariff and Kroger becomes top e-commerce company

• Cheap Prosecco: A leading Italian producer says too many wineries are selling Prosecco at slashed prices, which is hurting the bubbly. “Prosecco is being sold at below the production cost at some retailers, which is such a big mistake,” Sandro Bottega told a virtual tasting in early December. “I don’t know how or why they do it, but it’s conveying a bad message for consumers about the product.” This is not the first time we’ve seen this complaint; it seems to happen every couple of years. In this, Bottega says producers need to produce less wine, but of higher quality at higher prices.

• Chefs vs. tariff: A new chefs group has called for the Biden Administration to end all tariffs on European food, wine, and spirits via executive action on its first day in office. The group, Coalition to Stop Restaurant Tariffs, says tariffs make the pandemic that much worse for restaurants, increasing costs that they can’t already afford. The group is a who’s who of the restaurant business, including Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and New York City’s Daniel Bouloud. This is a big deal, not just because of the names, but also because chefs usually don’t get involved in politics like this.

• Kroger e-commerce: Kroger has become the country’s ninth biggest e-tailer, the only grocer to make the list, reports Supermarket News. Why does this matter to wine drinkers? Because more than half of the wine sold in the U.S. is sold in supermarkets, and Kroger is one of the biggest. As such, it has a stake in continuing the growth of on-line wine sales that has taken place during the pandemic – and it will likely want to. I saw Kroger’s political muscle when it bankrolled a wet-dry election in Dallas after the recession; anyone who thinks it will go meekly back to the old days when the pandemic ends is mistaken.

Photo: “Birthday Prosecco” by Mel Sharlene is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0