As of today, the US is the largest wine-consuming country in the world with the importation of wine increasing, at the expense of U.S. producers.
New channels of sales, such as direct-to-consumer sales should be more developed in the US. However, this does not work well for imported wines as they do not have a direct relationship with their customers within the U.S. territory. Also, notwithstanding a global increase in online wine shopping, in the U.S. it lags way behind China. The primary reasons for this lack of growth are the high cost of shipping and the U.S.’s complicated alcohol regulations (consider that, for instance, in many States, consumers cannot purchase wine shipped from out-of-state retailers, which means they can’t buy a lot of imported wines).
Branding and marketing become essential to enter and succeed in the U.S. wine industry, especially as there is also a decrease in on-premises sales, as consumers become aware that they can purchase the same bottle at a lower price off-premises. Therefore, labels, for example, become essential as they catch the consumer eyes in a liquor store shelf.