SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 2, 2012) - Wine.com, the nation's number one online wine retailer, hosted its second annual Wine Industry Summit on Tuesday. Attendees included 230 wine industry executives, a 40 percent increase in participation from the 2011 inaugural event, composed of leading winery, import supplier and wholesaler partners of Wine.com. The event program consisted of presentations by Wine.com executives highlighting the growth and performance of Wine.com as a company, 2011 Wine.com customer purchasing trends, seminars to share insights on merchandising and website functionality, and a site tour of its flagship distribution center, an 80,000 square foot facility in Berkeley.
The 2012 Wine.com Industry Summit marked the end of a year of extensive growth for Wine.com. With a 30 percent increase in volume, Wine.com shipped more than 2.2 million bottles, growing its customer base by 25 percent. Additionally, in 2011, Wine.com released the wine industry's first fully functional mobile shopping site, making it easier than ever before to buy wine on the go.
"The Wine.com business exhibits dynamic growth compared to its brick and mortar counter parts, as well as a more upscale customer base, a higher average bottle price and larger percentage of imports and red wines," explained Danny Brager, Vice President and Group Client Director of Beverage Alcohol at Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. "The product assortment offered to consumers on the Wine.com site is six to eight times larger than the average grocery stores and two to three times larger than the average liquor store." Brager also noted during his presentation that while the majority of wine buyers on Wine.com are Gen X and Baby Boomers, Millennials doubled the number of bottles they bought in 2011.
Highlights from the event included:
- The presentation of the annual Wine.com Exemplary Supplier Award to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, a pioneer in the Washington wine industry with a portfolio of domestic and imported wine brands including Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Antinori, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, and more.
- The presentation of the Wine.com Extreme Service Award to Gary Feldman, Sales Manager for Southern Wine & Spirits of California, who has directed his company's partnership with Wine.com for more than 12 years.
- Additionally, Wine.com shared 2011 consumer purchasing trends at the event, including the continued domination of Cabernet Sauvignon in growth and revenue, the new growth of Muscat and Chenin Blanc among white wines, and the rise of Argentina for imported wines.
"We're thrilled to have so many top suppliers and wholesalers take an interest in Wine.com," said Rich Bergsund, Wine.com CEO. "Many have done business with us for more than a decade, and are still finding ways to double or triple their volume with us each year. This conference gives us a great venue to plan for future growth together."
About Wine.com
Wine.com is the nation's #1 online wine retailer, offering thousands of wines, wine gifts, gift baskets and monthly wine clubs. Wine.com's mission is to be the ultimate resource for wine enthusiasts, whether shopping for themselves or a gift. Wine.com offers a combination of selection, value, service and detailed product information that is impossible to find in a brick and mortar store. Wine.com is the world's most visited wine website and also runs the wine flash sales site, WineShopper. Wine.com is majority owned by Baker Capital. For more information: visit www.wine.com, the Wine Notes Blog, Facebook page, Twitter, or download the iPad app. For WineShopper, visit www.wineshopper.com or on Facebook and Twitter.
About Baker Capital
Baker Capital, founded in 1995, is New York based private equity firm with $1.5 billion under management. Baker Capital invests globally in digital communications, media and technology companies at all stages of development. The partners of Baker Capital have extensive private equity and operational experience allowing the firm to provide its portfolio companies with not only capital, but also global strategic thinking and relationships.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Virginia Zimpel or Lauren Lloyd
wine(at)launchsquad(dot)com
415-625-8555