Project: Evaluation of Virginia Wineries Web Sites

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1 Project: Evaluation of Virginia Wineries Web Sites Gustavo Ferreira, PhD, MBA Assistant Professor and Extension Economist at the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics at Virginia Tech J. Paulo Canle Ferreira, MBA Senior Consultant in agribusiness at MAWAM Solutions Introduction Main US wine industry challenges: Worldwide oversupply of wine mainly from large domestic wine makers (i.e. California) and emerging wine producing countries (i.e. Australia, South Africa, Chile, etc.). Difficult to influence distributors to market their products and to secure retail shelf space. Consequently: Virginia wineries need to develop innovative and competitive marketing strategies. Virginia wineries web site analysis There sites of 184 Virginia wineries were analyzed. The selected wineries were identified using the directory posted at the Virginia Wine website in The data base was reviewed and updated while the analysis was conducted. This analysis attempts to: (1) assess the wineries overall online marketing strategy; (2) identify the Web site features that enhance the value of your business; (3) and propose potential improvements to existing current Web site. A four dimensions framework was developed and included: General features of a Web site (4 features) Wine tourism (14 features) Direct marketing (10 features) Educational (5 features) 1

2 Each dimension of comprised of a series of website features. Furthermore, each winery receives a score equal to one every time its Web site includes one of the suggested features and a zero otherwise. A final score is then computed for each of the fours dimensions. Pecentage Share of Features Present in Virginia Web Sites Virginia Industry Average General Features of Web Site 92% Wine Tourism 55% Direct Marketing 44% Educational 53% Literature Evaluation of Virginia Wineries Web Sites. Cooperative Extension Farm Business Management Newsletter, October - November Issue Ferreira, G. and Joao Ferreira Virginia Wineries Web Sites: An Evaluation. Journal of Business Administration Online (Under review). Wineries individual analysis We contacted 101 wineries located in the Shenandoah Valley, Central Virginia, Blue Ridge, Southern Virginia, Heart of Appalachia, and Rural Retreat via and telephone in order to explain the project and offer consulting in web marketing. 2

3 We got a total of 25 positive contacts, which represented close to 25% of the total contacts. Of these 25 positive contacts, we visited 18 wineries. During these visits, we explained the overall project and presented a customized report for each winery that included the results of our analysis of the winery s website and a comparison to those same results for the Virginia industry. The others 7 wineries were contacted via and phone, and they received an electronic copy of their own report. The names of the wineries consulted are kept confidential and only disclose after request. Geographic location of visited wineries 3

4 Results and feedback A feedback questionnaire was sent after each visit in order to measure the impact of the project and the producers level of satisfaction. As showed below, the response was very positive, with very high levels of satisfaction and interest to the 18 wineries visited and directed consulted. Did you consider our meeting useful? Strongly agree 13 93% Agree 1 7% Not sure 0 0% Disagree 0 0% Strongly disagree 0 0% Do you think the recommendations provided in the report were useful to your business? Strongly agree 12 86% Agree 1 7% Not sure 1 7% Disagree 0 0% Strongly disagree 0 0% Are you planning on using the recommendations and the information in the report? Yes 13 93% Not sure 1 7% No 0 0% 4

5 Would you be interested in receiving this type of advice for other topics? Yes % No 0 0% Next projects Expanding the website analysis to the states, such as Maryland and North Carolina in order to make regional comparative analysis. E-commerce price analysis by grape varieties in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. The application of Search Engine Optimization techniques. 5