Wineries leverage technology to reach consumers

June 25, 2011

By NATHAN HALVERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 8:09 a.m.
The digital revolution is spreading across the wine world — whether the industry is ready or not.
More than 450 wine-related applications are now available on the iPhone and other mobile devices — more than six times the number that existed only 18 months ago, according to a recent survey.
Last year, people on Facebook, Twitter and other social media had 14 million online conversations about wine, providing recommendations, reviewing vintages and suggesting the best wineries to visit, said Paul Mabray, chief strategy officer for VinTank, a Napa consulting firm.
Social media and mobile technology, which have garnered widespread coverage for playing a key role in the Arab uprisings, are now quietly usurping the wine industry’s traditional marketing powers and fueling a revolt among the hordes of casual wine drinkers.
“As an industry, we can no longer ignore digital,” Mabray said. “We now live in a Google economy.”
Mabray and others are pushing wineries to develop strategies that incorporate the widening arsenal of digital tools such as social media, data management and company-wide integration of workflow technology.
Some wine executives, such as John Jordan at Jordan Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg, are already more than two years into implementing their digital strategies.
“It’s a constantly evolving, messy thing,” said Jordan, the winery’s chief executive officer. “But technology makes it possible for a company to really become customer centric.”
Source: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110619/BUSINESS/110619506

Wine imports to Hong Kong increased by as much as 78% in the first two months of 2011, according to Benjamin Chau, deputy executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
He told the drinks business that per capita consumption in Hong Kong was now 3.7 litres per person per year and that wine imports have increased dramatically and consistently since the country abolished duty on wine in February 2008.

“Wine imports for Hong Kong increased by 79.5% in 2008, and in 2009 – even during the financial crisis – Hong Kong still achieved an increase of 40%, while in 2010, wine imports increased by 73%.”

He added: “Not all the wine we import we consume in Hong Kong and much of it is for re-exporting to China.

“In year 2009, Hong Kong exports to the world increased by 75% and in 2010 we had high double-digit figures for export.”

Looking ahead he said: “For the next three years the Chinese market consumption of wine will go up probably no less than 100%.

“Chinese people more health conscious and in the past they drank strong liquor – Maotai – but now they are admiring of the western way of life and are more keen to consume table wine, so future wine consumption will grow rapidly,” he concluded.

Click here to hear more about the growth of wine sales in the Far East and Chau’s plans to develop the market using the Hong Kong International Wine Fair.

Patrick Schmitt, 16.06.2011

Source: http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12886&Itemid=66