So, the debate on whether increased DTC shipping will lead to increased alcohol access to minors, comes down to whether in real life minors are accessing the marketplace. Clearly the answer is no!

Vinoshipper, an online wine compliance and e-commerce platform, has released a first-of-its-kind study to show that by using technology for age-verification it is 100 percent effective at stopping illegal purchases of alcoholic beverages by minors.  The study shows that direct-to-consumer sales are the safest way for alcohol to be sold and pre-purchase age verification software is a cost-effective and reliable way to block and measure minors' attempts to purchase alcohol online. It also clearly demonstrates that minors are not attempting to use online direct-to-consumer avenues in any significant number to secure alcohol.

A recent study by VinoShipper found that minors are not utilizing the internet to access alcohol. VinoShipper analyzed attempted purchases on its website and discovered over a three-year period (2020-2022) that of the 633,985 attempted purchases, only 943 attempted purchases were made by minors. In percentage terms, only 0.15% of all attempted purchases were by minors. 

Life is confusing and with the information overload we experience, it gets even more confusing. When it comes to the liquor world, we are not immune to outside forces! Nothing demonstrates this more than the debate over direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping. The debate over DTC spirits shipping is alive and well and with it we have contrasting views and contrasting data. On one hand, there is the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America’s (WSWA) study, which states that 72% of mothers are concerned about DTC spirits shipping and on the other hand is the SOVOS study, which states that 80% of consumers want

The American wine industry tries to maintain a genteel image of friendly competition rather than a cutthroat style. Yet like every industry, it is about market shares, supply and demand and getting the message out. Keeping ahead of one’s competitors means keeping up with the newest technologies, even with an agricultural product like wine. As Chief Growth and Experience Officer for Vintage Wine Estates (WVE) Jessica Kogan is one of a handful of women in charge of branding in an industry not quite as glamorous as her former positions at Donna Karan, Hill+Knowlton, Razorfish, Elizabeth Arden, Urban Decay, and Giorgio

There are numerous cases going through the federal court system, which challenges state discriminatory wine retailer shipping laws. In these states, an in-state retailer can ship to an in-state consumer, but an out-of-state retailer is denied these same privileges. The essence of these suits comes down to one basic factor, in a digital marketplace physical presence is not necessary to perfect a sale with the consumer, yet sometimes it is necessary. Sounds confusing right! Let me illustrate.

If the number of middle-tier wholesalers in the United States was tripled, you might be able to mitigate the problems that currently plague the alcohol distribution system. As it is, the number of wholesalers continues to shrink via consolidation, and the inherent liabilities of this ancient and dilapidated regulatory system only become worse each year. The primary liability of the Three-Tier System (TTS) is it is a regulatory system built to address a problem that does not exist and built to regulate a culture, society, and economy that disappeared over a half-century ago. This wouldn’t be a problem if that

On Feb. 9, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, released a long-awaited report on competition in the alcohol marketplace.  The report follows an executive order issued by President Biden last July asking for industry feedback on ways to promote competition in the American economy. The report, titled “Competition in the Market Place for Beer, Wine, and Spirits,” applauds the rapid growth of small businesses in the alcohol industry while challenging the growth of new participants entering the market. It analyzes how complex regulations may inhibit small businesses from growing and

Annually, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) releases their State of the Wine Industry Report. For a largely private industry without a lot of research groups focusing on data and analytics, this report is a wealth of topical trend information and provides a great window in trend forecasting based on surveys and analytics data to craft a high-level picture from the economics, to the viticulture to the sales aspect of the wine industry. That being said, the data is largely survey-based and directional in nature and should be taken as high-level drivers and not try to action decisions around the analysis. Typically