US: Wine shipped direct to consumer is on the up

(DrinksInt) - The value of direct-to-consumer shipments from American wineries increased to $1.46 Billion in 2012, and was greater than the total value of US wine exports, according to the 2013 Direct Shipping Report released by Ship Compliant and Wines & Vines.

 The 10% increase in sales of directly-shipped wines continues the channel’s history of outpacing the growth of overall wine sales in the United States, says the report.

More than 3.17 million nine-litre cases of wine were shipped direct to American consumers in 2012, a 7.7% increase over 2011. Napa wineries continued to receive the lion’s share of sales shipping $713 million worth of wine. But the report suggests the famous region’s wineries under-performed compared to the overall wine shipping channel, increasing their sales by 8%.

The report looks specifically at wines shipped from wineries to consumers and it includes details about regions, price and type of wine.  

Ship Compliant CEO Jason Eckenroth said: “We hope that the data in this report will act as a lens for wineries, magnifying the opportunities that abound in the direct-to-consumer channel.

“The idea is to give wineries not just the systems to help sell to consumers, but also new ideas and insights to apply to wine sales and marketing.”