Social media marketing and wine: Naked wines case study

Social media are leading to major changes in business and consumers’ behaviour. The aim of this paper is to analyse Naked Wines experience, a prominent online wine retailer established in England in 2008 and recently launched in California and Australia. NW is an interesting case study because of its unique features. NW customers can choose to invest in wines, before that they are produced, financing the business of winemakers and they can have a proactive role in the evaluation process (i.e. tasting and scoring) of wines. In such a way, NW supports and promotes the participation of independent winemakers, who by their productive and financial dimensions would have difficulties to sell in supermarkets. The article is organized in four sections. In the first, we explain why and how multichannel marketing (off-line and on-line and) is used to cope with changes in consumers’ behaviour. Then, we look at the relation between wine business and the multichannel marketing in UK. The following section focus on Naked Wines in order to highlight: roles and responsibilities of two specific profiles of consumers (Angels and Archangels), relationships with winemakers, and interaction devices in use (marketplace, blog, app). Finally, through the analysis of some questionnaires, administrated online to the Archangels, we attempt to investigate on their motivations, commitment and feedback, to improve NW activities in the future.