National Wine Agency to focus on online sales

TBILISI(BPI)- ver the past years, Georgian wine exports have been growing steadily, but due to a pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 a decline was registered:exports fell by 10% and domestic consumption aimed mainly at foreign tourists fell almost to zero.

 

Both government and business circles are involved in the solution to this problem. The National Wine Agency is looking for alternative ways to popularize Georgian wine. According to Director of the Agency Levan Mekhuzla, they will focus on online sales and talks are underway with the internet site Wine.com.

 

“The Georgian wine popularization  program has been operating in the country since 2013, but due to the pandemic some changes are to be made to it. In particular, we focus on online sales and online marketing. In the USA, we are negotiating with a large online wine sales platform Wine.com, in Germany – with vivino. We are set to create a category “Georgian wine”, as well as other countries, ” Mekhuzla explains.

According to Mekhuzla, Georgian winemaking as well as global wine production, is facing very big challenges such as a decline in exports and domestic demand, which was mainly aimed at foreign tourists.

 

“We planned to take part in several wine exhibitions, but they were all canceled due to  COVID-19 outbreak. We are going  to launch an online campaign. Export decreased by 10% that is insignificant amid the current  situation in the world.

But even such a slight reduction in exports will have a very negative impact on the Georgian wine sector. Our foreign partners are also trying to adapt to the current situation and help us in overcoming the  repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, ” the head of the Wine Agency notes.

 

Mekhuzla believes that the main problem is the inability to predict anything.

 

“Reality changes almost every day. We are waiting for the end of the first half of the year to have an idea of the dynamics of exports and only then  we’ll be able  to plan our strategy accurately, ” Levan Mekhuzla points out.

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