Wine club, growing interest from Italian wineries

Among the new trends characterizing direct-to-consumer sales in the wine world is the growing interest in Wine Clubs. This emerges in the “Wine Tourism and direct to consumer sales Report 2022 published by Divinea and was discussed during the webinar “Wine Clubs in Italy: what they are and how to make them work”, organized by Divinea with Filippo Galanti, co-founder of Divinea, and Francesco Minetti, CEO of Well Com.

According to data collected by Divinea, 17.3% of wineries have established a wine club while 75% of those who have not yet done so state that they will create one or are considering it. “Italian Wine Clubs – declares Filippo Galanti, co-founder of Divinea – have many members but produce relatively modest volumes. Half of the Italian wine clubs have more than 500 members but often generate negligible sales, demonstrating a lack of data culture. Often the information collected is not properly used to build customer loyalty.” Of the Italian companies registered – according to Mediobanca data – 25% have more than 1000 members, 25% from 500 to 1000, 14.3% from 100 to 499, and 35.7% less than 100. From these users, the volumes generated are often negligible and sales through Wine Clubs compared to DTC sales account for less than 5% in 39.3% of cases and more than 50% only in 3.6%.

From a marketing perspective, the wine club has a very homogeneous customer target that needs to be nurtured with the goal of retaining the customer (retention), encouraging frequent purchases (recurrence), leading to increased spending (upselling) and providing experiences such as winery visits (integrated selling). However, the functionalities of Italian wine clubs differ from those in the United States: Italian wineries mainly offer exclusive access to registered users and an e-shop with special vintages and formats, while only one in five offers subscriptions with periodic shipping. According to Francesco Minetti, CEO of Well Com, who spoke during the Divinea webinar, in Italy the wine club has not yet achieved the results seen in other countries like the United States because engaging with the final consumer requires energy and continuity in cultivating a relationship before and after purchase.

But investing in the wine consumer is beneficial for several reasons: the evolution of wine consumption models and the growth of direct consumer demand; direct sales is an additional commercial channel that diversifies risk; direct-to-consumer sales significantly increase company profitability; immediate revenue improves financial dynamics; finally, direct contact is a way to build customer loyalty.