Ecommerce is on the Rise - How to Evolve Your Online Presence

Through 2020 we’ve seen online wine sales grow significantly and this channel shows no signs of slowing. In fact, research shows that global ecommerce sales are forecasted to hit 4.9 trillion dollars in 2021. What does this mean for wineries?

The wine industry has been forced to navigate and prepare for what’s next in order to grow sales. Getting online is a great start, but with anticipated growth in this channel, it’s crucial wineries position themselves correctly in order to meet consumer demand, and capitalize on the huge growth in ecommerce sales the industry is seeing.

Growing your ecommerce sales is all about focusing on your customer’s experience, and making it as effortless as possible.

Consumers shopping online have almost unlimited choice, and with more choice comes hypercompetition for all brands. It’s not enough to offer a great product at a great price when consumers have access to so many options. In order to succeed online, wineries need to make it easy and convenient for consumers to buy from their websites. 

Wineries who optimize their site and pages, are the ones who see continuous success. From the moment a potential or recurring customer visits your website, their shopping experience should be easy and convenient.

This checklist will help you understand how easy it is for your customers to navigate and purchase through your site:

1. How many clicks does it take for a customer to see your first product, and make a purchase?

When someone enters your site, are your products front and center or do they have to search for them? The longer it takes a consumer to find the products they want, the higher the chance they bounce. For example, having your products listed on your home page will immediately showcase everything your winery has to offer. 

Once a customer has found the products they want on your site, is it easy to add them to their cart? Do you have “add to cart” buttons on your list pages? Or do customers have to drill into each specific product page to add a product to their cart. At Commerce7 we see 66% of “add to cart” clicks come from list pages, we know this is the preferred method for consumers to shop and it makes sense as it’s significantly faster and easier to add products to your cart from a list page compared to forcing customers into product pages.

2. Do you utilize upfront pricing?

Again, in a fast-paced world, having all of the information upfront is essential for the customer to decide on the purchase. There are a few reasons why people abandon carts but 18% of abandoned carts are due to not seeing order cost upfront.

Don’t make club members wait until checkout to know what their total after their club discount is, keep your pricing upfront so consumers can make quick decisions and complete their purchase.

3. Does your cart expire? Or can customers pick up where they left off when returning to your site?

Shopping online can often be a multi-step or multi-day process. Having a persistent cart that doesn’t expire ensures customers who get distracted while shopping online can pick up where they left off and complete their purchase days later.

7.8% of carts on Commerce7 are completed 24 hours after they are first created. If you expire carts, your return customers have to hunt down their products again causing you to potentially miss out on sales. Saved cart history makes it easy for visitors to revisit their carts, complete their purchase, and have an overall positive experience.

4. Do you have as few fields as possible on your checkout? Or better yet, can customers “one-click” checkout?

Once your visitor finds what products they want - checking out should be the easy part, 21% of abandoned carts are due to a long or complicated process.

By utilizing a one-click checkout you can allow your customers to purchase quickly and efficiently without the need to fill out a single field or form. Not only are you creating a positive experience for your customers, your winery will also reap the benefits of an easier checkout process.

5. How fast are your pages loading?

The average website takes 2 seconds to load. Did you know that 53% of all mobile site visits leave a page that doesn’t load in 3 seconds? The faster the site, the lower the bounce rate, resulting in happier customers and more sales for your winery.

About Commerce7

Above price and product, the number one reason why a consumer will choose a brand is customer experience. At Commerce7, we make it easy for wineries to create great consumer shopping experiences. We do that, by offering the industry’s most modern and customer centric club management, ecommerce, POS, reservation, and CRM tools.

Learn why over 730 wineries choose Commerce7 as their DtC platform.

Book a demo.