Wine sales are going social
Think about it: how often has a friend, family member, or colleague recommended a wine to you? If you're like me, it's probably more than you'd like to admit.
Influencers undeniably shape consumer behavior: we’ve all been swayed by celebrities, athletes, or even politicians. A 2024 study revealed that 74% of consumers have bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation.
But as drinks businesses work to grow direct-to-consumer sales, it’s time to evolve beyond the usual playbook. Yes, influencer partnerships still matter. However, tracking their true impact, and linking that back to actual sales, is notoriously difficult. The line between awareness and conversion is often blurred.
That’s why a new approach is gaining ground - one that taps into the social networks of consumers. Wine retailers and wineries are mapping these connections - not just to observe, but to activate them. The goal? To turn everyday social recommendations into wine sales.
The first step in tapping into the value of your consumers’ social networks is recognizing that people want to purchase together and we, at Cobuyr, have coined a term for this popular trend - Social Buying.
Social Buying is made possible by enabling consumers to invite their social networks to split and pay for wine orders in groups directly on the websites of wine retailers and wineries. When this happens, the social networks of your consumers start to appear that were previously not seen before - and these social connections-turned-social buying networks create new marketing and sales opportunities.
This images shows the before and after of knowing the social buying networks using Cobuyr.
Leveraging social buying networks offers significant advantages. Here are three key benefits:
You already have a rich CRM filled with customers. As a first step, activate them to purchase with their social networks because they want to buy wine together. This will position your business as a digitally aware and savvy brand.
Lower the total cost of customer acquisition by turning your current customers into ambassadors so they do your marketing and selling into their social networks. Bring word of mouth to life.
Beyond unlocking incremental revenue, social buying reduces the need for discounts. Instead of offering a price cut, the savings are naturally shared across the group as they split the cost of the wine.
Wine sales are going social as consumers seek to engage with the social side of wine throughout the entire customer journey - from discovery and purchase to enjoyment and sharing stories with friends, family, and colleagues.