James Beeson’s Post

Virgin Wines UK PLC (AIM:VINO) shares rose 5% to 40p after it expressed confidence in hitting full-year targets thanks to much improved underlying profit in the first half, despite lower sales. Underlying EBITDA jumped 122% to £1.76 million on revenue that was down 2% at £34.3 million. The wine seller put the enhancement of earnings down to the introduction of strategic initiatives and the strength of the underlying business, plus a 25% reduction in warehouse fulfilment costs. Customers remain “active and loyal”, the company said, with the new customer conversion rate up 22% year-on-year, the cost of customer acquisition down 14% and the cancellation rate of its WineBank scheme at an 18 month low at 16.8%. More at #Proactive #ProactiveInvestors #AIM #VINO http://ow.ly/xzq8105nhqe

As the landscape of online wine sales evolves, wineries need to stay ahead of the curve. Here are three key considerations to boost wine sales and ensure your digital presence works effectively for you. WineDirect

In a challenging market, even the UK’s oldest fine wine merchant hasn’t been immune. Revenues at Berry Bros. & Rudd fell 3.3% to £246m, while EBITDA slid 51.2%. Yet, CEO Emma Fox remains steadfast: The company has doubled down on investment (£27m this year) to future-proof its growth. Positive highlights include: En Primeur sales up 15% Fine wine storage revenue up 27% Events business rising 16%

Total wine depletions are down 8.2% ending in June, which is only 70 basis points worse than two years ago when volume was trending down 7.5%. One issue for the Table Wine category remains the significant volume, 54.3%, that is sold below $8. This makes growth in the category unlikely in the near future. The above quote is from WSWA. These are wholesaler depletions for the prior 12 months. These are essentially SWS numbers, they are the largest wholesaler in the country

Among the report’s other findings: - Price discounting is still not common in direct sales. More often, incentives center around discounted shipping; free shipping has lost popularity among producers. (Everyone I know is discounting, so?) - Internet and web sales, after peaking at 16% of sales during the Pandemic, have retreated to 8%, more or less what they were in 2016.  - Wineries are lagging behind their customers in social media use. Just three-quarters use Facebook and Instagram, and the figures are barely into double digits for Twitter/X, YouTube, and the like.  - Lifetime wine club membership value, which rose almost two-thirds from 2014 to 2021, has flattened. Meanwhile, wine club churn rates remain high, with some as much as 25%, and conversion rates fall within a narrow band of 8% to 10%. - DtC prices have increased slightly since 2017, around 2% per year, with a drop in 2020 during the Pandemic and an almost 5% increase the following year. - In 2023, DtC case sales growth generally remained smaller than dollar growth, even in some of the regions where case sales declined. The average for the nine regions in the study was a 0.7% dollar boost and a 1.48% decline in cases sold. Sonoma and Virginia were the two regions with the highest reported DtC sales growth rates. https://lnkd.in/gHumZvM4

The CEO of Naked Wines has hailed the progress the company has made during the first half of its financial year as its pre-tax loss was slashed almost in half. Rodrigo Maza said the business is in a "better position, both financially and strategically” following the period. Naked Wines added that its early peak season trading has been “solid” while its liquidity and cash are “continuing to improve”. Read the full City AM story here - https://lnkd.in/e4QBZrGt

The U.S. wine industry is drowning in surplus... Distributors are overwhelmed with excess inventory and smaller wineries are squeezed out as large distributors focus on big accounts. This oversupply is causing chaos: ↳ Increased imports ↳ A shrinking distributor tier ↳ A rise in private-label brands makes it hard for wineries to get their products to market. The result? Wasted resources, lost profits, and mounting frustration. Solution: 1️⃣ S&OP (at the very least, do this!) 2️⃣ Advanced planning tools 3️⃣ Collaborative planning with your distributors P.S. What are you doing to navigate the glut?

This article is an excellent primer on why the three-tier system and the states mandates that wholesalers act as middle man can't work for any but the largest brands and the largest wholesalers, leading us to conclude that the future health of the American wine industry depends on the dismantling of the three-tier system as it stands today.

"If you can’t afford #marketing and good #communication, you are going to have to rethink your business model to find a way that allows you to do so." Robert Joseph notes that, for similar reasons, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, the biggest US wine #distributor and Volkswagen, the world's second largest car manufacturer, have both laid off large numbers of employees. Is it time for #wine producers to rethink the way they operate? https://lnkd.in/dkfuTgKU #WineProducer #WineDistributor #WineMarketing #WineBusiness #WineIndustry #USwine