Wine drinkers moving to web sales

What they found is that South African wine consumers are becoming a lot better informed about selection, finding the right price and making sure that buying is as easy and hassle free as possible.

"Although they still like to enjoy top brands, consumers are becoming more used to searching for and finding the best prices for the wines that they want to consume and these are almost always found online," says AJ Ray, a director of SaleWine.co.za.

Price, convenience count

Besides price, the other top reasons for shopping for wine online were being able to shop at their own convenience and not having to be limited to traditional retail hours, as well as being able to research the wines before buying them, or getting a review or advice from a wine expert.

"It would make sense for these stores to employ wine masters to help customers make selections, otherwise they may find themselves losing more clients to the online retailers, especially those, like ours, that offer both price and advice."

The third biggest reason for shopping online was their ability to save money, not only on the wines, but also on the peripheral costs to acquiring that wine at the bottle store or supermarket, including petrol, parking and time wasted on queuing.

Interesting wines sought

The fourth reason was their ability to find boutique or interesting wines. "Even though 57.1% of surveyed wine consumers are wine novices, they are still looking for the gems of the winelands, those boutique wine estates that only release a limited amount of a special vintage or varietal," he adds.

Not surprisingly, 43% said that carrying their own bags, filled with heavy wine or sparkling wine bottles, from the supermarket or liquor store would be their first reason to move immediately to online shopping, just so that they could have their purchase delivered to their kitchen counter.

"This is a big concern for customers, they don't want the hassle of having to carry their own purchases home and if one really thinks about where service levels are going and what consumers expect in return for their custom, I really can't blame them," he concludes.

Flash sales take off

The concept of selling wines for between 30 and 70% off the retail price for a limited period only, called flash sales, is new to South Africa. Ray, who has been in the local wine business for over 15 years, started the business to right what he believes is wrong with the South African wine industry.

"Consumers are consistently being charged too much for the wine that they buy and are essentially being forced to pay for South Africa's own version of the American fake three-tier system, which includes a producer, wholesaler and retailer. At the end of the day, farmers want to sell their wine and consumers want to buy them, albeit at a good price. By offering the farm a fair price for their wines, and then keeping the margins and costs to a bare minimum, the company is able to address both those needs," concludes Ray.

For more information go to www.salewine.co.za