For a non American, the three-tier system of wine distribution  is very puzzling.  But some wine professionals are now working on improving the system for the benefit of the consumers or at least suggesting some solutions.

In his interview to Vin65 a few days ago, Paul Mabray, CEO of VinTank and founder and former CEO of Inertia Beverage Group,  raised several interesting points.

First of all, what is the most important component of a marketing strategy for a wine brand? It is to be consumer centric. Every wine brand is in direct competition with the other 55,000 brands.

Then, next question, how to reach this consumer? For Paul, “DTT  provides a healthy route to market for small brands or products. It acts as an incubator for brand building”.  What is DTT? It means Direct to Trade Sales and refers to a sale made directly by a winery to a restaurant or wine merchant.  Wholesalers feel threatened by this cut in the three-tier system. In fact, DTT provides, as Paul pointed out, a way for smaller brands to reach the end consumers, get awareness and then be in a position to push the sale.  I’m not an expert on distribution but I’m convinced that the three-tier system has to open up to other routes. Wine brands need to be able to access the end consumers while not only reducing their costs but mostly by providing the end consumers with a brand at a fair price, especially now that Americans are cutting on their restaurants’ meals. It could be a great incentive for them.

DTC is a different story. Most wine drinkers buy a bottle to drink it within the next few hours. E-commerce or wine clubs are more dedicated to wine consumers who are ready to wait for a special brand, cellar it if necessary and let it age.  E-commerce provides brands widely recognized by the consumers for their rarity, their price and/or their quality. Wineries clubs help the wineries build the loyalty of their customers and raise the brand awareness.

Paul’s suggestions are roads to be explored widely by wineries and brands.  Too many wineries are not yet convinced that Internet is the best and the cheapest way to build awareness, reach potential consumers and interface with customers.  Let the people talk between themselves, don’t be afraid of a bad review, get in the conversation, tweet, be on Facebook.  But mostly listen to people: you’ll learn a lot on their expectations as consumers and you’ll be able to build a better service to them, answer their needs, cater to their wishes and be recognized as their favorite brand.

As usual, a report by VinTank creates a lot of interest amongst wine aficionados and tech people. Good iPhone apps in the wine business are not that easy to find. VinTank’s report is of great help to the wine consumer: Paul Mabray went through all the hard work of buying the apps, and creating various filters to test them (wine reviews, wine and food pairing, wine journal, social media capabilities, Point of purchase option, User Interface, innovation and data cleanliness). With those 8 features, any wine consumer can chose the app most pertinent to his/her use.

VinTank’s paper is very informative on the best BtoC apps. The top apps recommended are good tools to establish and maintain contact between wine companies and consumers.

This said, my main concern is that there is no real app for wine professionals. As such I’m also interested in price comparisons between two or more sites and not only what the price point. I’d also be interested in auctions for more expensive wines.

Next steps for the industry: mobile site for all wineries to maintain the stream between wineries and consumers, more BtoB apps and specific apps for high end wines (Opus One, Haut-Brion, Palmer, Sassicaïa, etc.). And more reports from VinTank!

In the pre-Internet days, think tanks could be impressive by the secrecy surrounding their members, their goals and their means of action. Today, in the (almost) full bloom of the Web 2.0, think tanks should be leading the way to the Web 3.0. And some do.

Who didn’t hear of VinTank‘s Social Media Report? It was certainly one of the most reviewed and commented upon report on the subject in the wine industry. Previously to reading the report, I had heard of Paul Mabray and some of his partners. We spoke from time to time through podcasts, Twitter or email. Think tanks in the wine industry are not common (maybe even non existent) in Europe and I was getting more and more curious about VinTank’s work and strategy. Their web site is very clean and to the point: they talk to the wine people (to introduce them to technology), to tech people (to introduce them to wine) and to people – the real wealth of any business, and more specifically of the wine business.

VinTank shows a great understanding of the new technologies and have deep inside knowledge of the wine industry. The team is full of ideas, creative and innovative while always offering new services, like the digital pipeline management system VinTank launched or helping develop a great idea like the social media monitoring created by Evan Cover and his team of Cruvee.

This new generation of think tank, dedicated to a very vertical market, is certainly the way to lead the wine industry to a better understanding of social media and marketing as well as providing wineries with the most up to date tools to monitor and develop their business on line. Does it mean that the wine business is very much aware of the newest marketing tools and can become one of the leaders towards a new economy, based on relationship inside the virtual world? Maybe, maybe not but thanks to VinTank, its innovative strategy and its network of partners, the wine industry is well equipped to face the hardships and the competition ahead. Ready to embark on a new adventure? It’s as exciting as space travel!