Napa Technology Survey Shows Retailers Adding Tasting to Aisles and Profits
Napa Technology, developer of the WineStation
Intelligent Preservation and Dispensing System, commissioned a survey of 40 top wine
retailers nationwide on wine purchasing trends and best practices for increasing bottle
sales.
Respondents agreed that today’s consumers are willing to pay more, when given the
opportunity to sample wine before they buy. And those retailers willing to look outside
the wine bottle for creative and technologically innovative solutions are seeing the profits
pour in.
The survey found that 76 percent of retailers agree that wine buying customers are
savvier than they were 4 years ago. Recognizable labels are no longer cutting it, as 84
percent of retailers say consumers are demanding a wider variety of wines than they
have in the past. According to the majority of respondents, the average retail purchase
price is between $10-$20, with 58 percent reporting that consumers are paying less for a
bottle of wine today than they were 4 years ago.
However, consumers will increase the amount they spend per bottle when retailers
invest in try before you buy tactics. Successful efforts take the shape of loyalty
programs, daily wine tastings, and events designed to engage the consumer in sampling
higher priced wines. The largest margin of success was displayed in environments with
wine preservation systems, such as the WineStation, that offers temperature control, 60
day preservation and real time data that track product, customer preferences, and sales.
69 percent of those surveyed with preservation systems report offering finer and higher
priced wines to their grocery store aisles.
A mid-sized retailer in Detroit, Michigan states, “The WineStation® has really helped build
our wine club and wine sales business. With 16 different brands and varietals offered,
sampled and rotated seasonally, we’ve made choosing the right wine a fun experience.