Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/122527
METRICS Wine Industry Metrics Aggressive Winery Hiring Is Big News in March Metrics Domestic Wine Sales $500 Up 7% from 2012 $ Millions $450 $400 2013 2012 $350 2011 $300 $250 Jan Apr Jul Complete metrics data available to subscribers: winesandvines.com/metrics Oct Dec Source: Symphony IRI Group, Wines & Vines March brought very strong growth in winery jobs, steady growth in retail sales and a slight drop in direct-to-consumer sales. A 30% increase in winery hiring activity was the month's biggest news, spurred largely by wineries searching aggressively for hospitality staff to take care of summer visitors. Off-premise sales of domestic wine reached $403 million in March. The value of direct-to-consumer shipments reached $177 million in March, raising the 12-month total to $1.483 billion, a 10% increase over a year ago. —J.G. DtC Shipments by Winery Size The monthly growth rate of domestic table wine sales in stores climbed to 7% in March, which was enough to boost the annual growth rate to 6%. Value of shipments, 12 months through March 2012 and March 2013 Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) Shipments $800 $240 $ Millions $200 Down 3% from 2012 2012 2013 $160 $700 $600 $120 2011 $80 Jan Apr Jul Oct Dec Source: Wines & Vines/ShipCompliant Model Winery Job Index 260 $200 $100 220 2013 Winejobs.com Index $400 $300 March sales in DtC shipments dipped 3% below March 2012, while volume rose by 2%. A very slight softening of average bottle prices occurred in some regions. $0 2012 180 <1,000 1,000- 5,000- 50,000-500,000+ 4,999 49,999499,999 Winery Size by Case Production 2011 140 Source: Wines & Vines/ShipCompliant Model Up 31% from 2012 100 60 20 $ Millions $500 $40 $0 2012 2013 Jan Apr Jul Oct Dec Source: Winejobs.com With especially strong hiring activity in hospitality jobs, the overall Winery Job Index rose 31% in March and 17% during the year to date. 10 W in es & V i ne s M AY 2 01 3 Small wineries producing 5,000-49,999 cases are by far the biggest force in directto-consumer shipments, as this graph dramatically shows. Their sales reached $738 million in the 12 months ending March 2013. The 49 large wineries producing 500,000 cases or more do less business via DtC shipments than wineries producing less than 1,000 cases. Note that all winery size categories increased the value of their shipments during the past year.