How to Start a Wine Business Online

Maybe you want to start an online wine store selling new world vintages for weddings and special occasions, or a monthly subscription box to get folks interested in organic wines. You may already be in the wine business—running a bottle shop, a local wine club, or even a winery.

No matter the business model, selling wine online can help you reach oenophiles eager to taste your products. It's also an opportunity to create a space for community in a changing industry and to offer a new perspective on a time-honored ritual.

Here's what you need to know before breaking into the online wine market, with tips from entrepreneurs who have been there and done just that.

How to start selling wine online

1. Find your niche
2. Identify your target audience
3. Create a business plan
4. Get a license
5. Build an online store
6. Lock down fulfillment
7. Develop a marketing strategy
8. Consider your scale

Customers can't see, smell, or taste your wares when you sell wine online, so it's important to give them an enticing, easy, and clear experience. Follow these steps to set up your online wine shop: 

1. Find your niche

The online wine business includes wineries selling their products online, in-person wine shops with a digital storefront, large wine and spirit retailers, wine clubs, subscription boxes, and more. It's important to know how your business will fit in.

One way to stand out is to approach your inventory with a specific focus. You can choose a niche wine category, like natural wines or organic wines, or drinks from a particular region. Narrowing your lens will allow you to better position your products, tailor your marketing materials, and serve a specific audience of wine enthusiasts.

2. Identify your target audience

Once you know what you want to sell, you need to identify who your target audience is going to be. Sometimes, you are your own ideal customer.

At The Sip, co-founders Erica Davis and Catherine Carter's experiences as wine lovers came to define the wine subscription business they'd build. The two longtime friends shared a ritual of getting together and discovering a new bottle of sparkling wine.

“We wanted to take a sip of something, decide if we liked it, and understand why we liked it. That became more and more important to us when we got together to do our tastings,” Catherine explains on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast.

“We realized this couldn't be something that only we struggled with,” said Catherine. “It had to be something that other people found as a challenge too. And we also knew getting together with your best friend and drinking wine can't be something that only we like. There's gotta be other people interested in that as well.”

To get clear on who you'll cater to, create buyer personas outlining their key interests, traits, challenges, and beliefs. Knowing these details will help shape your brand, and it will impact a range of practical decisions about shipping, packaging, and price points. Seek a deep understanding of not only what your target audience loves, but what they're missing or actively looking for.

3. Create a business plan 

Before you turn your attention to licensing and shipping logistics, you need to solidify your vision. Putting together a business plan can help you and your company get clarity on what, how, and to whom you're selling. If you have an existing business like an in-person store or winery, you'll need to plan how the ecommerce component will fit with current operations

Your new or revised business plan should include an executive summary, a company description, market analysis, a sample list of the products and services you plan to offer, a marketing overview, and your logistical, operational, and financial roadmap toward becoming a profitable business.

4. Get a license

Acquiring the proper licensing and permits is a complicated piece of any online wine business, but the guidelines for your state are readily available online. If you’re operating in one of the states in the US where it’s legal to sell wine through direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels, you need to register your business with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

“In this particular field, there is a lot of red tape,” Catherine says. “Take your time, get your licensing, get your ducks in a row. Don't try to rush that process, or you’ll spend a lot of time on the back end trying to correct it later.”

Alcohol dealer registration allows you to sell alcohol with certain parameters in place (like procedures to verify the age of site visitors), but you may need additional permissions to sell and ship within your state, or across state lines.

Additional licensing may include:

• A premises license (which allows you to handle and ship alcohol from a physical location)
• A state winery license (if you're producing your own wine)
• State-specific licenses or requirements

Be clear on your website about where you're able to ship, to prevent confusion and disappointment at checkout. 

5. Build an online store

Your online store is the gateway through which many of your customers will primarily interact with your business. Having a thoughtfully designed website that entices browsers to make online wine purchases is essential.

Create detailed and informative product listings, use high quality images, and have clearly stated pricing options and offers. Make sure your ecommerce platform of choice accepts a broad range of payment methods like credit cards, digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and deferred payment methods like Affirm or Klarna.

In your website design, use your typography, color palette, and brand voice to tell a story, and make sure your layout is easy to navigate. Shopify offers numerous templates with intuitive layouts to make this process as smooth as possible.

6. Lock down fulfillment

Before you go to market, you need to sort out your strategies for product distribution, packing, and shipping. If you aren't the producer of the wine you're selling, Catherine recommends going with tried and tested options.

“When it comes to picking distributors, don't reinvent the wheel unless you absolutely have to. This is an industry that's established. There are a lot of people who already have great processes in place,” Catherine said.

At The Sip, she and Erica started with the wines and brands they had heard of and liked.

“We did research on different types of sparkling wines, found the distributors that made them, and started building those connections so that we could start to put together our own box,” said Catherine. “When you're ready to move on to smaller distributors and to expand your portfolio, you can do that as well.”

Shipping and packaging delicate bottles requires specific materials and techniques. It's also a marketing opportunity, and a way to create a special moment for the customer. Perhaps you want to deliver rustic crates embossed with your winery's logo, or deliver a special branded box with extra goodies for your subscribers. Or maybe you want to deliver bottles in the simplest, safest, and most cost effective way possible.

Your business model, marketing strategy, and financial plan all will impact this decision. Depending on what you decide, you may choose to work with a delivery company or ship yourself.

“There are a lot of companies that specialize in how to ship wine,” Catherine says. “A lot of subscription companies will quickly default to a third-party packer, [but] with how much work we’ve put into our brand, and how important it is to our overall business, we wanted to have full control of packing in-house.” 

7. Develop a marketing strategy

The wine industry, perhaps more than most, comes with centuries of baggage. Depending on who you ask, wine can be snobby, down to earth, elitist, rustic, or celebratory. The grape, the packaging, even the tasting room in which it’s served all leave a mark on wine’s reputation—so there's a lot of room to carve out a unique identity.

At The Sip, the stereotypes and cliches presented a wide-open opportunity for a different tone.

“We laugh about it all the time, but I didn’t know what a black currant was, and it’s a tasting note in almost every wine that I like. It actually tastes like Cherry Coke to me, and I’m OK saying that,” Erica says of their friendly, non-judgmental approach to branding.

“The great thing about The Sip is that we make it OK to not know, but to enjoy. It’s OK if you like the $10 wine over the $90 wine. It's your palate, it’s your choice. That's what the brand should feel like.”

Look for opportunities in your marketing strategy to create content that's helpful for your audience. Educate potential customers on styles of wine, tasting techniques, pairing suggestions, and vintner profiles through your unique lens. The more they know, the better buying decisions they can make—and the happier they'll be.

8. Consider your scale

Once you're up and running and have figured out your sourcing, operations, shipping, and marketing, it might be time to consider scale. To do this, you might need outside financing—especially if you've been bootstrapped since launch. Your options include crowdsourcing funds from your network, seeking out venture capital (VC), or joining an accelerator program.

“I urge people to think about scalability, especially if you are a direct-to-consumer brand, ” Erica says. “How are you going to get that next customer? Is your process repeatable? … If it is, your business is scalable. If you don't know how you’re going to repeat it, I’d say continue to bootstrap until you figure it out.”

If you believe you're on the path to growth and scale, you might consider an accelerator program. When selecting one, Erica suggests making sure they understand D2C.

“Go in there with an open mind and readiness to learn and listen,” says Erica. “Look at what type of VCs actually come to that accelerator. Specifically, if you’re a direct-to-consumer product, make sure … there are investors that come to that program that actually invest in consumer products because it’s probably one of the smaller industries that actually get invested in.”

Erica and Catherine’s experience in the Launch Accelerator program ultimately led them to venture capital investment. If you pursue this route, Erica advises holding out for the right partner, remarking on The Sip’s own journey.

“When someone takes an investment into your business, it’s like a marriage,” she says. “You have to like that person. You want them to be on your side. You want to see the benefit that they bring to the company. You don't just want to take a check and then have to figure it all out for yourself.”

Erica says she appreciates the network, support, and expertise they got from working with a VC.

“Meeting them, having the conversations, getting the support, getting the advice for free. That let me know that they were the right partners for us,” she said.