By Avi Arora
The last 6 months have completely changed traditional consumer consumption. We no longer buy goods the same way. The whole experience of entering a store and buying items is no longer the norm. E-commerce has paved its way to being the safest and most convenient way of shopping.
Missouri wineries are rapidly adapting to this new consumer behavior. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, these wineries began offering curbside pickup for prepackaged food and wine to encourage sales in a safe way. However, these wineries are often located along the Missouri River and are far away from populated areas. Before Covid-19, tourists would swarm the wineries on lovely summer days and explore for hours, making the drive worth it. Now, these long drives are unappealing to consumers because they do not have the opportunity to experience the wineries, resulting in a decrease in retail sales by upwards of 50%.
Missouri wineries needed to adapt to stay afloat, so they began developing and pushing their online sales. By encouraging e-commerce through providing statewide free delivery, online wine sales have increased by 300%, which makes up for lack of retail sales. These quick adaptations within wineries will be the only way that they can survive this pandemic. The ways wineries will function in the future will be different even after the pandemic because the convenience of virtual communication is changing everyone’s lives. We have developed ways of connecting people through the comfort and safety of their homes.
We can expect to see many wineries joining Kork to create and develop valuable virtual experiences.