- 93% of South African wine drinkers surveyed believe they are paying too much for top estate wines at supermarkets and liquor stores.
- Wine buyers intimidated by enormous selection of wines on supermarket shelves.
- 71.4% refuse to queue at retailers because it is a waste of time in a time-poor society.
As the working year draws to a close, South Africans are starting to think about stocking up on wines, French Champagne and locally produced sparkling wines for the festive season. This year, however, they are not buying them in a supermarket or liquor store, but rather online, at a number of discounted wine sales portals that have sprung up during the last year.
One such website is SaleWine.co.za, an online wine retailer that sells well-known and boutique wines at between 30 to 70% off the retail price for a period of 72 hours, or until it is sold out, and delivers for free. The company recently polled close on 1000 South African wine drinkers to find out what drives them online.
What they found is that South African wine consumers are becoming a lot more savvy about selection, finding the right price and making sure that the way that they buy these wines makes it as easy and hassle free as possible.
93% of South African wine drinkers polled believed that they were paying too much for South Africa’s top wine brands. “Although they still like to enjoy these wines, consumers are becoming more used to searching for and finding the best prices for the wines that they want to consume, and they are almost always found online,” says AJ Ray, a director of SaleWine.co.za.
When asked how they feel about going to a retail liquor outlet, 71.4% said that they would go if they had to, but that they took exception to standing in a long queue because they thought it wasted their time.
Besides price, the other top reasons for shopping for wine online were being able to shop at their own convenience and not having to be limited to traditional retail hours, as well as being able to research the wines before buying them, or getting a review or advice from a wine expert.
“35.7% of those surveyed are intimidated by the enormous selection found at a retail liquor store or supermarket and would far prefer to get advice when shopping at these outlets,” says Ray. “It would make sense for these stores to employ wine masters to help customers make selections, otherwise they may find themselves losing more clients to the online retailers, especially those, like SaleWine.co.za, that are offering customers both price and advice.”
The third biggest reason for shopping online was their ability to save money, not only on the wines, but also on the peripheral costs to acquiring that wine at the bottle store or supermarket, including petrol, parking and time wasted on queuing.
The fourth reason was their ability to find boutique or interesting wines. “Even though 57.1% of surveyed wine consumers are wine novices, they are still looking for the gems of the wine lands, those boutique wine estates that only release a limited amount of a special vintage or varietal,” says Ray.
Not surprisingly, 43% said that carrying their own bags, filled with heavy wine or sparkling wine bottles, from the supermarket or liquor store would be their first reason to immediately move to online shopping, just so that they could have their purchase delivered to their kitchen counter.
“This is a big concern for customers, they don’t want the hassle of having to carry their own purchases home, and if one really thinks about where service levels are going and what consumers expect in return for their custom, I really can’t blame them,” concludes Ray.
The concept of selling wines for between 30 and 70% off the retail price for a limited period only, called flash sales, is new to South Africa. Ray, who has been in the local wine business for over 15 years, started the business to right what he believes is wrong with the South African wine industry.
“Consumers are consistently being charged too much for the wine that they buy and are essentially being forced to pay for South Africa’s own version of the American fake three-tier system, which includes a producer, wholesaler and retailer. At the end of the day, farmers want to sell their wine and consumers want to buy them, albeit at a good price. By offering the farm a fair price for their wines, and then keeping the margins and costs to a bare minimum, SaleWine.co.za is able to address both those needs,” concludes Ray.
How to become a member of SaleWine.co.za
Membership is free but limited to the over 18’s. People can become a member by visiting http://www.salewine.co.za and signing up to become a member. They will receive an email confirmation a few seconds later, and they simply have to click on the link to confirm their membership.
SaleWine.co.za sells one red and one while wine at every sale, which lasts for 72 hours or until the wine is sold out. Purchases are delivered at no extra charge within 5 to 7 days of the end of a sale. An email is sent to members each time a new sale is launched.
To visit the website: http://www.salewine.co.za
- Newly launched wine website, SaleWine.co.za
