A new wine tourism research pilot programme, aimed at generating tourism intelligence and helping wineries use this intelligence to grow their Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) business, is currently being funded by Vinpro and the Cape Winelands District Municipality.

Vinpro is a non-profit company that represents close to 2 600 South African wine producers, cellars and industry stakeholders.

Launched in March with an initial 16 wineries, this new pilot programme is a continuation of one of Vinpro and the SA Wine Routes Forum’s strategic objectives to conduct research focused on industry needs and knowledge gaps.

The wine routes, Vinpro, and Vintelligence (consumer intelligence solutions for SA wine producers), collaborated last year to release the SA Wine Tourism Visitor Research Report 2022. This year the goal is smarter use of technology.

“We are extremely excited to have kicked off this amazing pilot programme and we want cellars to get involved now,” said Marisah Nieuwoudt, Wine Tourism Manager at Vinpro.

“The pilot programme was launched tin conjunction with Flow Networks, specialists in location analytics, proximity marketing and Guest Wi-Fi. This year we want to use the technology to our advantage to count our visitors and note where they come from, to understand the size and make-up of the total market. We want to help our wineries stay connected to wine tourists between visits, making consumer engagement in the DTC wine space possible,” Nieuwoudt added.

How it will work

Flow Networks will work with the cellars involved in its marketing strategy to assist on cross-channel sales, manage their online reputation, build a loyalty and rewards programme, or send offers via e-mail. Flow Networks is a reputable service provider, used by some of the largest brands in the world including Radisson Blu, McDonald’s, Tsogo Sun, Harrods, and Walmart.

Presence Analytics is a software module that counts the number of mobile devices (users) in range of a producer or cellar’s WiFi router using a built-in location sensor. Visitors do not need to be connected to the farm’s WiFi to be counted. Purple, a cloud-based Wi-Fi platform, then measures the time spent in the venue and frequency of visits.

WiFi Analytics records the information of visitors that connect to a guest WiFi service. A CRM record is created for each guest when they connect and is updated every time they return. This is done by linking up one or more of the farm’s existing WiFi routers to the Purple WiFi platform.

Purple is installed on top of the existing WiFi infrastructure, and set-up takes less than an hour. The system can be managed via an online portal accessible to wineries. Purple instantly starts building a database via its user-friendly, custom-branded WiFi landing pages once the winery goes live.

An online dashboard will display the visitor data collected. Selected, aggregated information such as visitor numbers, country of origin, dwell time, gender and age will be shared with the respective wine route.

This means the wine route manager will have sight of cross-pollination (when a wine tourist visits more than one winery) to help inform their marketing and development planning. Vinpro will have sight of the same information at a national level. All processes comply with POPIA locally and GDPR regulations abroad.

“As a region, we believe that wine tourism is not only about enjoying exquisite wines and breath-taking landscapes, but also about harnessing the power of data and intelligence to support the growth of wineries and enhance our visitors’ experiences,” said Melody Botha, CEO of Breedekloof Wine Valley.

“We see this pilot programme as an opportunity to pool our collective knowledge and expertise, so we can elevate our wine tourism offerings and position our region as a premier wine destination. We envisage a future where wineries in our region can thrive in the DTC market, and where visitors can have truly exceptional wine tourism experiences,” Botha concluded.

A further 43 wineries in the Cape Winelands region have been earmarked to subscribe to Purple Presence Analytics and Purple Wi-Fi Analytics for a year at a subsidised rate. The project is open to all wineries beyond the Cape Winelands as well, who also qualify for a discounted rate.

“The tourism sector is one of the largest economic contributors in the Cape Winelands District. This exciting and technologically advanced project ticks all the right boxes for the Cape Winelands District Municipality. The information gathered will help us apply our resources to effective campaigns that expand our global market, attract visitors to our beautiful district and, ultimately, allow its people to flourish,” said Dr Elna von Schlicht, Executive Mayor of the Cape Winelands District Municipality.