"Young Americans and new sources of wine information for the curious" - Insider News wine articles
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Young Americans and new sources of wine information for the curious
In this, the third article in a series exploring trends in the online wine
industry, Global Wine & Spirits takes a look at who drives wine consumption
worldwide and the Internet's role in the evolution of this market.
While
the United States is driving growth in global wine markets, and young Americans
(under 30) are the fastest growing wine consumer segment, it is worth asking
where they get their information. Online seems to be the favourite choice. As we
have seen with Facebook and YouTube, we are now witnessing the emergence of wine
appreciation sites built around social-networking tools and user-generated
content.
Move over Robert Parker, I want to hear what my neighbour has
to say.
The face of wine criticism is changing. And nowhere faster than
in the U.S.A. and for no one faster than the Web 2.0 generation. If these young
people are currently making it possible for Facebook to sell 1.6% of its equity
for $US240 million, I want to know where they are headed ? and one place they
are going is to wine appreciation sites!
Much like the Internet Movie
DataBase (IMDB), the wine industry is currently witnessing the emergence of wine
information/aggregation websites with varying degrees of social networking or
interaction opportunities. If I trust my neighbour to tell me whether he enjoyed
a particular movie, why wouldn't I trust him to recommend a wine to try? We are
currently experiencing an unparalleled democratization of access to wine
information, accompanied by a corresponding growth in online wine sales, due in
part to a lengthening of the already ?long tail? of niche wine products offered
online.
Questions wine marketers should ask themselves
For the
moment, this trend is primarily an American phenomenon. When will it cross over
into Europe and China?
- The use of video and audio files is growing
rapidly. How well am I using this technology, and are my files on YouTube?
- Have I taken stock of my online presence: Who is talking about me and my wines? What are they saying? Where are my wines being sold online? How well are they targeted by search engines?
- What is my online strategy? Am I on Wikipedia?
I can already hear the sceptics. Consider, however, that
during the time it took to read this newsletter, more than 100,000 new photos
were uploaded by Facebook users alone. Just imagine the growing number of new
wine notes online!
Jean-Michel Stam
Vice-President, Sales &
Operations
Global Wine & Spirits