Temperature Control Impacting Wine Shipments
Wineries and consumers are starting to see the impact of affordable temperature controlled shipment of wine.
Wines and Vines Magazine this week reported that in July the value of direct-to-consumer wine shipments increased to $82 million, a 23% bump over July 2015 . This is the largest increase for July in four years. Undoubtedly a lot of this increase has to do with wineries’ new willingness to ship wine in July using services such as Fed Ex’s Coldchain.
One long-term impact of affordable temperature controlled shipping will be to see the a flattening of the DTC shipping calendar. In the past spring and fall shipments spiked, while serious lulls in shipping occurred during the hot months of May-August and the colder months of December – February. It will take a few years for this trend to impact the DTC shipping trend lines in a graphic way, but res assured it will impact scheduling of wine shipments. I would not be surprised if we see a significant bump in shipments for this month and a lower growth rate in shipments for the coming September.
As a retailer, I see wine sales go down in July and August. So it would be the much more dedicated customers who would buy then anyway. Cold Chain or other refrigerated shipping is going to be significantly more expensive and at least some of that cost would have to be passed on to customers. So I’m not sure this flattening will occur. Definitely not soon, anyway.
Tom, your point is well taken. But consider the wineries and particularly their wine clubs. These are sales that are baked in for the wineries. Being able to work those shipments into the year’s middle months is a very convenient option.
Temperature controlled shipping is a great option and I have seen some wineries now add the summer club. With zone skip temp control shipments should not be expensive