Tmall’s alcohol sales tripled in 2016

Online alcohol sales on China’s leading e-retailer, Tmall.com, have tripled in size from 2013 to 2016, reinforcing e-commerce’s growing importance in China’s wine market where about half of the country’s total wines sales are now done online.

Tmall CEO Daniel Zhang

The growth, according to the retailer, was a result of consumers’ growing trust in the company and a much wider range of wines from different countries and regions available on the retail platform.

Most online wine shoppers still prefer imported wines over domestic wines. More than 80% of consumers shopping for wines online opted for imported wines the retailer said in its latest report on global wine trends. The report analysed 434 million online consumers, more than 10 million online shops and one billion different consumer goods across 31 provinces, cities and districts in China.

Among the fastest growing wine consumer groups, the number of consumers from non first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai increased by four times compared with 2013, and the price per order also tripled, the retailer added without revealing any specifics.

Compared with three years ago, millennials have grown to be the country’s most important wine drinkers. According to the report, consumers in the 18 to 22 age group already outspent all the other age groups, and spent nearly three times as much as they did in 2013.

The retailer also announced the most popular wine brands sold in 2016. Lafite tops the list, followed by China’s Changyu, Chateau Monlot and Penfolds.

It’s worth noting that Tmall did not disclose its total alcohol sales revenues in 2016, and only noted its sales grew compared with 2015.