While imported wines suffered a nosedive last year, popularity of Chinese wines particularly from China’s premier wine region Ningxia enjoyed soaring growth online across the country’s major e-commerce and social media platforms.
According to data released by Yinchuan Wine Industry Development and Service Center, online sales for wines from Helan Mount East’s Yinchuan sub-region surpassed RMB 75 million (US$10.9 million) during the year, a 50% increase over 2021, despite the country’s restrictive lockdowns and traditionally sluggish home consumption.
The most effective platform so far for driving the district’s online wine sales is China’s leading e-commerce platform JD.com, which is responsible for RMB 52 million (US$7.5 million) sales, while Tmall.com and Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, together contributed RMB 23 million(US$3.3 million) sales.
Yinchuan is a key winegrowing sub-region in Ningxia, and other sub regions consist of Qing Tongxia, Hong Shibao and Shi Zuishan.
The growth corresponds to an emerging trend among social media-savvy Chinese millennials and Gen-Z who are choosing domestically produced products over imported goods on rising pride and confidence in Chinese heritage.
According to the local government, its active e-commerce campaign and effective social media management also played a central role in Ningxia’s booming online sales. During last year, Yinchuan government set up a flagship store on JD.com selling exclusively Ningxia wines. Meanwhile, it encouraged and supported Ningxia wineries to create accounts on popular Chinese short video platforms including Douyin, Kuaishou to promote Ningxia wines.
By the end of 2022, more than 40 wineries are selling wines online, about half of Yinchun’s total winery number. Sales promotions during popular online shopping festivals such as June 18 and Singles’ Day including Douyin livestreaming and e-coupons were particularly effective.
