The return of foreign tourists, new generations entering the world of wine are the prerequisites for the take-off of the new wine tourism season in the Italian panorama.
A significant aspect is that wine, compared to other products, has a high conversion rate to sales. This translates into excellent related opportunities contextual to the tasting phase in the cellar.
Behind every single consumer lies a sea of possibilities. And it is precisely this situation that outlines the basis of D2C: the direct relationship between the winery and the consumer, without any type of intermediation; a basic prerequisite for conversion into sales and for maintaining trust at a later time.
The direct-to-consumer is a very profitable sales approach for individual wineries, but it is often not exploited to the fullest. In the United States the value of D2C is constantly growing and represents approximately 66% of total sales. In Italy we are witnessing a good growth trend, starting from the last twenty years, but many wineries still have not equipped themselves with the right tools to manage it.
Poor investments, low propensity for digitalization and ineffective communication are just some of the factors that slow down the process. But we certainly cannot say that D2C is a new or innovative type of relationship because it is known to be as old as the world; only some application methods have changed…
In addition to this, the translation of the cellar experience into sales is certainly not simple or automatic. Greater attention and sensitivity towards the issues just seen would make not only direct sales in the cellar and the typing of the average receipt more consistent, but also the reiteration of online purchases in the different channels used.
The story is this… if the customer likes the wine from the cellar where he tasted it directly or purchased it online, he will certainly have no problem repeating the order.
Furthermore, some wine producers, not knowing how to manage certain types of requests, such as those for shipping to private individuals abroad, find themselves losing a truly important portion of customers and thus limit their potential.
The point is this, it is not simply a question of denying the possibility of selling and shipping wine abroad, but also of depriving the winery itself of a possible loyal customer for the future. Extracting all the value relating to customer satisfaction in the cellar and then also continuing with support for the reiteration of online purchases, then emerge in all their predominance as issues that deserve attention.
The pandemic has not only changed consumer habits but has also defined new horizons for Ho.Re.Ca, thus causing a shift towards the reevaluation of the D2C approach. It therefore becomes essential to equip yourself with all the tools to manage new and different needs, bureaucratic and regulatory issues, both from the winery point of sale and on the online side. In summary, the issue of being able to sell and ship to the customer’s home with the correct excise, duty and VAT procedures is therefore a crucially important and stimulating objective to pursue.
« Let's think of the classic situation in which the tourist, following the tasting, buys only one or two bottles. In this case, the customer, not being able to order a greater quantity of bottles, will turn to other wineries with a wasteful purchase without taking the opportunity to transform him into a regular consumer »
