Hitwise Internet Research Chief Bill Tancer to Speak at Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium

Bill Tancer, who as general manager of global research for Hitwise, has been called the king of measuring online research, will be a keynote speaker during the second annual Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium taking place in Napa, California on February 24.

The symposium is presented by Coalition for Free Trade and Free the Grapes! two organizations that have worked to increase the market for legal direct-to-consumer wine shipments.

Tancer has access to extensive data regarding internet usage along with tools to analyze it. He is the author of the new book, Click: Unexpected Insights for Business and Life; writes a column, "The Science of Search" on time.com; is often quoted in the media and is a frequent speaker. Tancer's blog is called ilovedata.com

 
In Click, he demonstrates how the way we search and browse the Internet can tell us a lot about ourselves. The availability of massive amounts of online user behavior reveals the subtleties of our interests and thoughts at any given time. As he demonstrates throughout the book, that insight can go beyond the ups and downs of search term data and into the actual intent behind those searches.

Visits to wine sites, and searches for wine, while increasing are still small compared to overall searches on the Internet, probably due to the regulations governing wine shipping, Tancer said. "The Internet is a place with no regional boundaries, but that isn't quite true with wine shipments."

Tancer told winebusiness.com some of the preliminary data he's pulled shows visits to wine sites and searches on wine have been moving counter to the economy. One reason could be that more people are eating at home, a plausible explanation; though Tancer says he doesn't have enough data to prove it at yet.

Tancer said women account for 53 percent of visits to wine sites, compared to 47 percent for men. He 
said the sweet spot in terms of income among those searching for wine online is in the $60,000 to $100,000 per year household income bracket. "I would have expected higher," Tancer said, guessing that those making $150,000 or more per year may tend to buy retail or from niche high end sites.

Tancer will talk about the top wine sites and will create a custom category by market share. He will touch on the seasonality of wine searches online. During the holidays there's a 400 percent increase in wine searches compared to the spring and summer months, he said.

Wine accounts for less than .004 percent of Internet searches, Tancer said. "The good news is there's room to grow."

The Direct to Consumer Symposium is considered the premiere summit on direct marketing and sales. The inaugural event last May attracted more than 250 attendees with guests and speakers from across the United States.

This year's symposium will offer workshop sessions with speakers addressing such topics as customer relationship management; driving sales for non-wine club customers, loyalty, as well as legal and regulatory updates.

For more on the second annual Direct to Consumer Symposium, see http://www.coalitionforfreetrade.org/symposium/