In Australia, the adoption of online food and beverage services was slow but rapidly increased in 2020/21. In fact, the industry’s revenue is expected to grow at an annualised 27.7% over the next five years to $7.1 billion. The problem? Wineries are falling behind.
So, how can your winery tap into this potential? Sit tight! We’re about to share our recommendations for shifting your wine sales online.
Regulatory compliance comes before building the store. Transport and sale rules for wine are strict in Australia.
Storage and delivery logistics can make or break an online wine sale. A damaged bottle in transit is a lost customer.
Platform choice matters. Shopify or WordPress are recommended over general website builders for a real ecommerce operation.
The challenges of moving online
Success doesn’t come without its challenges. There are some key challenges that you may face while moving your business online.
Australia’s National Transport Commission has strict rules and regulations around what can and can’t be posted to consumers. Before setting up your online store, make sure you consult a professional who understands the requirements your business will need to meet in order to sell your wine online.
Imagine ordering a $500 bottle of wine, only to have it arrive ruined because it hasn’t been stored correctly in transit. Storage and transportation are two important factors to consider. Wine Works offers wine delivery logistic services in South Australia if you’re looking for a company to assist you with this.
Delivery demand is another challenge many eCommerce stores face. With consumers expecting same day or next day delivery, your winery will need to determine whether you can meet that demand – and if not, come up with a solid narrative as to why you can’t.
Another challenge online wine stores face is verifying the user’s age and identity to ensure they are not selling to a minor. Many websites simply ask you if you are over 18 – which is hardly foolproof.
We recommend creating a member portal that requires a user to submit a formal registration, submitting their ID and personal information to verify their age and identity. This should help ensure you are not selling to a minor. BlueCheck is age verifying software that helps you protect your business from underage purchases.
You may also require legal documents to support your online trade, including but not limited to:
- Alcohol Dealer Registration
- A winery licence from your state
- A shipper’s licence
- Direct shipping agreements
DMT’s Take
The regulatory and logistics side of selling wine online is where most wineries underestimate the work, since compliance and delivery quality both have to be right before the first sale ever happens.
Your Action Plan
- Consult a professional on National Transport Commission rules before launching. Getting this wrong risks the whole online sales channel.
- Choose a wine-specific logistics partner. General couriers are not built for temperature-sensitive, breakable stock.
How to sell my wine online
With all the legalities under your belt, you can now start focusing on building your website.
Check out your competitors online. What are they doing? What looks good? What could be better? Draw inspiration from your competitors, but also use their websites to determine what you should avoid.
Spend some time deciding what products you’ll put online. Make sure your product pages are populated with plenty of information that encourages the user to buy, but that also contains keywords that your website can rank for. Your website should be a healthy balance and storytelling and keyword laced copy for SEO.
Now this is super important – avoid using a website like Wix or Squarespace for your eCommerce store. We recommend either Shopify or WordPress. You’ll need to find an experienced developer who can help you build a website that not only looks beautiful but that’s easy to navigate through. They’ll also make sure your website has everything it needs in terms of tracking – like pixels to track and record user data.
Web design and User Experience (UX) design takes a lot of planning, strategy and experience. You’ll need to run your shopping cart through several tests to ensure the checkout process is simple.
Use the three-click rule to avoid user frustration. What’s the three-click rule? After signing up as a member or a user, your visitors should be able to purchase their product in no more than three clicks. Anything more than that and the user loses interest.
And remember to offer a variety of payment options for your visitors.
Every website, no matter the industry, needs an effective SEO strategy. Without effective SEO optimisation, your website will simply remain hidden from Google searches.
Your website needs both technical and content SEO. What’s the difference? Technical SEO is all the super technical things like a robot text file, scheme mark up and site map. Content SEO, on the other hand, are words on the page that help your website be found. Google can only scan text so it’s important that your website has scannable text that solves for search engines and for customers.
Need help with your SEO strategy and management? Contact us today for a complimentary consultation!
Your website can be as beautiful as your winery is. But if it’s populated with average copy and shocking photography, you won’t get much engagement from your visitors. Invest in high-end photography that showcases the beauty and brilliance of your wines. We recommend local businesses Futuro Avenue for photography and videography and NINKI for website copy.
Once the website has launched, you’ll need to start driving targeted traffic to your website. You can do this in a number of ways. We highly recommend a full digital marketing strategy that defines who you are trying to reach and how you will reach them. Jumping straight into advertising without a strategy can result in a lot of wasted dollars.
You can use a combination of organic content and paid ads to drive traffic to your website. Facebook and Instagram are powerful platforms to reach your ideal customers in a way that is engaging and relevant. Read our latest blog on how to promote your star wines online to find out more about the advertising capabilities of social media.
It’s time to sell your wine! If you’re thinking of shifting to online sales or if you have an online store already but need some help with your advertising, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today for a free consultation.
Want help with this? Get a free, no-obligation strategy session and we will show you where the biggest opportunities are.
DMT’s Take
The platform choice made early on is hard to undo later, so it is worth resisting the temptation to start with a quick, cheap website builder.
Your Action Plan
- Choose Shopify or WordPress over general website builders. Ecommerce-specific platforms handle the product and payment complexity better long-term.
- Balance storytelling with SEO-friendly product copy. Product pages need to both convert and rank.
Bilal Alwan
Bilal Alwan is the founder and director of Digital Marketing Tribe, an Adelaide and Sydney based digital marketing agency. He leads DMT’s SEO and AI search work, helping Australian businesses stay visible as search shifts from ten blue links to AI-generated answers.
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