Digital marketing strategies in the Italian wine sector

The diffusion of digital instruments as means to communicate and sell products and services attracted the interest of academics and professionals in recent years. Digital marketing strategies are seen as beneficial in the wine industry, especially for small wineries, given the richness they allow in the communication of products and terroirs, their purported affordability vis-à-vis traditional marketing strategies, and the access they provide to international markets. Consensus on the importance of digital marketing is high, but the reality is sober: many wineries are lagging behind in adopting digital tools. Based on an exploratory study of 113 small and medium sized Italian wineries, the paper identifies organisational factors that influence the use of digital tools in marketing strategies: size, familiarity with various areas of digital marketing, number of employees and longevity of the firm.