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August 2015 WINES&VINES 19 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS N apa, Calif.—In a conference focused mainly on digital technology for better wine marketing and sales, one speaker's message was sobering. E-com- merce remains a niche market for wine, and in stores the explosion of new wine brands has not cre- ated strong growth. Almost all, or 96%, of con- sumer packaged good sales occur in stores, and just 5% of consum- ers intend to buy wine online in the next six months, according to Laurie Rains, a vice president in Nielsen's Retail Consulting and Analytics Group. As the first featured speaker at the June 25-26 Wine Industry Technical Symposium, Rains seemed to be grounding the audi- ence of 250 with a picture of how conventional the wine market- place is, before several speakers to follow would try to lift the at- tendees to the heights of digital marketing possibilities. "While there is a lot of growth around spending online, for the most part people still shop in stores," Rains said. Her research showed that 19% of consumers intend to buy shampoo or vita- mins online, while just 2% intend to buy spirits online and 6% in- tend to buy beer online. What's more, growth in dollar sales for consumer-packaged goods in general is below the 2011 level, she said, and the change in units sold is flat. Nielsen expects the alcohol beverage category to do better, rising 3.6% in dollars and 2.2% in volume in 2015. The good news is that e-com- merce has plenty of potential for growth. Millennials—consumers ages 21-34—are much more ac- tive online shoppers and are very receptive to "touchpoints" that give them recommendations or information from friends, social media and commercial media, which gives wine producers an opening. These younger consumers like variety, and 40% of them buy more than seven wine brands per year. But Rains said wineries should be chasing the customer, not the competition. Wineries and marketers should use good digital content in chas- ing those customers, said another speaker, Joshua Saunders, founder and CEO of Uncorkd. The com- pany developed an app for iPad wine and beverage menus that, he said, shows that readily available information helps sell wine. His company recently surveyed 749 consumers who drink alco- holic beverages in restaurants and found that uncertainty is the No. 1 reason that people do not purchase wine. They avoid drinking wine or spending money on wine when they don't know how it tastes. The four changes that consum- ers would most like to see in res- t a u r a n t w i n e p r o g r a m s a r e samples to try before buying, dif- ferent size glass pours available, more by-the-glass options and more local wines available. Saunders returned to the theme that content is king in help- ing people find a way to a winery's products. He urged wineries to create great content for their web- sites, blogs, videos and social media, and said it doesn't have to be expensive. "You want your in- formation to be there. A lot of it is free to distribute, but you need to make sure it's accessible and available on all devices." —Jim Gordon E-commerce Remains a Niche for Wine Market " While there is a lot of growth around spending online, for the most part people still shop in stores." —Laurie Rains, The Nielsen Co.