Digital Transformation of Online Grocery & Wine w/ Jessica Kogan, Vintage Wine Estates

Fueled by the pandemic, grocery stores have made significant investments in selling digitally, with wine being an essential growth category for online sales.  With estimates of ~$6B in wine sold through online grocery by 2025, Jessica Kogan, Chief Growth & Experience Officer of Vintage Wine Estates, gets into the trends, key success factors, and the opportunity that online grocery represents.  Detailed Show Note: Vintage Wine Estates (Ticker: VWE)11th largest wine holding company in the US12 wineries, a couple of digitally native businesses, 12-15 lifestyle brandsHeavy focus on DTCOnline grocery trendsBy 2025 - 22% of Americans will buy groceries online (i.e., anything not in-store and digitally enabled)Alcohol is the fastest growing segment for online grocery - by 2025 - $5.97B in wine online from <$1B in 2018 vs. $7.97B DTC from wineries in 2025Target saw 4x amount of alcohol when bought online vs. in-store purchases in 2021, most of which was wineDigital grocery brings up basket size and provides more flexibility for consumers (e.g., curbside pickup; Target provides lots of flexibility)~50% digital is pickup, ~50% delivery todayPost-pandemic trendsWine DTC is seeing slower growth, but online grocery is continuing to growCovid led to increased investment by grocery in onlineGrocery has goals of going beyond grocery into becoming a “lifestyle” store, e.g., leaning into wellnessWhy consumers enjoy buying wine onlineFeel overwhelmed by the selection of in-storeLike learning about the background and story of brandsOften use phones in-store to learn more about brandsGen Z - born digitally, love stories & authenticity, committed to wellness - makes wine compete w/ RTD cocktails and hard seltzersConsumers are more open to taking risks on new brands onlineSelling into grocery storesBelieves in-store demo events are powerfulMaking the story accessible and easy (e.g., QR codes on labels) keySelling in online groceryUses Salsify (a “PIM” - product information manager) to publish info to grocery stores, allows producers to control data shown to consumers94-95% of searches for wine are by varietal (or basic descriptors like red/white), not by brandDigital algorithms - can’t buy ads due to Tied House Laws, but can influence algorithms w/ customer reviews or customers saving productsUsing metadata to show up as recommended product vs. search displays helpfulBeing in the “above the fold” carousel of products where consumers don’t need to scroll down is vital for sales, as big as being on the end-cap in-storeTips for brands for online groceryHave a website w/ e-commerce - helps understand the whole processGo w/ distributors to stores w/ digital info for productsFuture trends for online groceryVirtual tastings will continueMore information on wellness and wineWomen to play an essential role in connecting w/ customers since most grocery buyers are women Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.