Rioja takes off online

Wines from Rioja is teaming up with Majestic and Tesco to promote the region’s wines via the internet.

The generic body is seeking to increase off-trade sales following the news that online wine sales increased by 23% year-on-year, according to IMRG Cap Gemini, and after a successful promotion with Direct Wines.

Starting today and running throughout September, Tesco’s online service will be promoting its new Rioja listings and offering its estimated 300,000 customers a chance to win a trip to the region.

In November, Majestic will also run a week-long promotion for its range of Rioja wines on its website.

In June of this year, Wines from Rioja ran an online promotion with Direct Wines, which offered customers 20% off the entire range and subsequently saw sales rise by 220%.

Spanish wine buyer for the company, Helen McEvoy, said: “We significantly over-sold against our forecast and are incredibly happy with the promotion’s results.”

Speaking of the forthcoming promotions, Wines from Rioja spokesperson Anna Noble said: “Online promotions with retailers have proved a successful way of increasing sales of Rioja in the UK off-trade.

"As a generic body, we need to include as many brands as possible and the comprehensive range of online promotions allows us to do this.

“As online alcohol sales are increasing rapidly, we believe that online promotions give us the opportunity to target busy wine drinkers in the comfort of their own homes.”

Rupert Millar, 06.09.10