2022 Category Captain for Wine & Liquor: E.&J. Gallo Winery

The wine and spirits category continues to evolve within the convenience channel. Since 2008, Category Captain E.&J. Gallo Winery has been collecting data to understand who the primary shopper is in this channel (millennials), what types of wines are favored by new consumers in the category (sweet), and why cold box shoppers purchase (immediate consumption).

Its winning entry cited:

• Using research takeaways to recommend an expanded wine assortment that ensures top sellers are available chilled, with an adjacent unchilled standard wine assortment, including an assortment of small sizes for impulse buys. 
• Partnering with Kum & Go, the 400-plus-store chain based in Des Moines, Iowa, E.&J. Gallo identified that top market sellers were not consistently available across each state in Kum & Go's footprint due to multiple store configurations, resulting in a loss of sales. Starting in early 2021, the company helped Kum & Go streamline its assortment by identifying the best sellers nationally and by state, and generated a market-specific core list incorporating the multiple store configurations. Then, by clustering store configurations by state, the supplier could provide a consistent assortment at the right price points and introduce new items. Kum & Go saw an 8-percent increase in wine sales.
• For the latest 26 weeks, wine sales were up 8 percent year over year, outpacing total sales in the convenience channel, which were up 5 percent, according to IRI.