Wine shoppers will spend €14 more on a bottle online, hears Vinexpo

By Emily Kearns

Published: 17 June, 2013

Online wine buyers will spend €14 more on a bottle of wine than traditional high street shoppers, according to research revealed at today's Vinexpo exhibition in Bordeaux.

Not only do so-called "cyberbuyers of wine" spend more on themselves they will also spend €9 more when buying wine for guests or friends.

The research was revealed as part of a conference The Future of Online Wine Sales held this morning at Vinexpo.

Xavier Court, co-founder of vente-privee.com, went on to show that 75% of online wine consumers are likely to drink wine at last once or twice a week, compared with 46% of traditional consumers. With red wine being a favourite with 62% of online shoppers vs 53% of traditional buyers.

The study surveyed online shoppers across vente-privee.com's network of sites (specifically those from which it sells wine) in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. Vente-priveee.com is also looking to open a wine section on its UK site.

Its Vinexpo research was carried out by Survey Lab, the study and trends laboratory of vente-privee.com, in partnership with the institute of independent studies ExactEtudes.

The three main conclusions from the report are:

Online wine buyers are serious wine amateurs with a larger budget and have more wine in storage (46% vs 23%) and offer wine as a gift more frequently, especially for festive celebrations (35% vs 25%). They are globally more educated about wine: 72% think to aerate their wine before serving (vs 63%) and 48% decant their wine (vs 32%).

Online wine buyers are those most interested in international wines, particularly French, Spanish and Italian wines as they have the best image. Online wine buyers had tasted between five and seven international wine styles compared to four of the traditional shopper. The most appreciated wines outside of Europe are South African (84%), Chilean (80%) and Argentinean (78%).

The majority of online shoppers are male (65% vs 43%), older (43 years of age on average age vs 39), more urban (44% vs 38%), and more likely to be in a relationship (74% vs 66%).

The research also found there is a higher proportion of female wine shoppers: 49% of buyers on the site are women (against 35% in the general online market). They also spend more on wine on the site (€10-€12 per bottle, on average) than offline buyers (€3-€5 on average).

The Future of Online Wine Sales event was held this morning at Vinexpo.

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