Online Wine Buying Is Big, Wine Apps Not So Much, Says New Study

The Wine Market Council, a California-based non-profit trade association of grape growers, wine producers, importers, wholesalers, retailers, and others in around the world of wine, has released the results of its 2015 study of consumers' online wine-buying habits. Some 7,294 wine drinkers, their names sourced from wine club and winery customer lists as well as from a research sample provider, participated.

While the Council stresses that though the pool of respondents was large, it may not be representative of all U.S. wine drinkers.

Nonetheless, the study's findings are interesting. Among them:

About three-quarters of the respondents buy wine online — males considerably more than females — and the same number belongs to a winery wine club (in which members are typically offered special bottlings, advance purchase opportunities, and sometime special prices). The majority of those who buy wine online spend $15 or more per bottle. Fewer than half of those who buy wine online use a wine app, however (Vivino is the most popular app for those who do use one).

Most of the respondents still buy the vast majority of their wine in brick-and-mortar establishments, and many list shipping costs as the key impediment to more online purchases.

Those who both buy wine online and belong to a winery wine club are mostly male and, probably not surprisingly, say that they drink more wine than those who don't buy online or belong to a club.