Earlier this week it was my pleasure to moderate a panel during the launch of Vinexpo in New York, on the topic of millennials' purchasing power and the rise of ecommerce.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who was curious to hear what the panelists had to say -- there was standing room only, with willing attendees (not so happily) turned away, and lots of questions during the session and afterward.

It was one of those "That went well!" events, and I was psyched for the panelists to voice their perspective on the topic.

Let me bottom line the conversation for you in these few essential points:

1. The data already exists that tells us what we need to know about millennials and ecommerce. That's because they're telling us what they want, every minute of every day, and leaving a digital trail for us to follow. Data minimizes the guesswork and the mystery of this topic. We just have to tap into it.
2. Three of the five panelists spoke from the perspective of their own data, which they tap into, to the ultimate benefit of the consumer: Heini Zachariassen of Vivino, Lara Crystal of Minibar Delivery, and Jacob Moynihan of Merchant23.
3. If we see the wine consumer as a puzzle, we can envision each of these data sources as a piece of the puzzle with its own unique shape. The more puzzle pieces we have, and the more of them that we put together, the more accurate the picture of the consumer is going to be.
4. That being said, data is not a panacea. It is very powerful, but it is not a cure-all. It needs to be complemented -- it will always need to be complemented -- by human experience and input. That's where our other two panelists weighed in: Pascaline Lepeltier MS of Racine's NY and Valerie Gerard-Matsuura of Sopexa, whose deep experience in wine, and with this demographic in particular, prove to be exceptionally valuable.

Isn't it time for you to take some guesswork out of your interaction with wine consumers, whether they're millennials, on ecommerce platforms, or otherwise?

There's a world of data out there to make that happen. We can help.

Please let me know your thoughts and questions, and thank you as always for reading.

Cathy Huyghe, Co-Founder of Enolytics

Phone: +1.702.528.3717 | cathy@enolytics.com | www.enolytics.com