Our adventure in China began a couple of years ago by chance—or for fun—thanks to a connection through mutual friends with a Chinese influencer living in Italy who loves made in Italy, the Italian style, but above all Italian food & drink.
Through his TikTok videos, our presence in the Chinese market began.
Until two years ago, distribution followed the traditional channel of selling to the importer, therefore all subsequent steps and especially the direct relationship with the end consumer were entrusted to the importer and/or its distributors.
Thanks to the TikTok experience everything changed; the presence of Polvanera wines exploded throughout China and not only in a small, restricted geographical area.
Even here in the West, the world of online entertainment is increasingly interconnected with commerce and sales; imagine how it functions in China, where the connection is real and immediate, where this app is used constantly by all users, from any social background and age.
By breaking down any kind of space/time barrier, the Polvanera wines and the winery forcefully enter the final consumer's life, through the screen of their phone, which can see where we are, how we work, how we open a bottle, how we taste the wines, and, with a simple click, can purchase the bottles shown in the video and have them delivered to their home within 48 hours.
The interesting note of this 'innovative sale' is that there really are no limits to the types of products offered. The influencer talks about a wine, any wine, and orders come in.
This means not merely sticking to a small range of products usually selected by importers, but ranging across reds, rosés, whites, sparkling wines, historic vintages of prestige, special packages, special formats. Even dessert wines, which are usually very hard to sell outside the national border, with this media hype manage to attract interest and become appealing.
It goes without saying that our sales in China have jumped by 1000 percent compared with the past.
So much so that the Italy China Council Foundation – ICCF of Milan, born from the merger of the Italia Cina Foundation and the Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, recently awarded a prestigious recognition to our owner Filippo Cassano. It is the China Award 2022, XVII edition, which honors the companies and individuals who have best seized the opportunities offered by the exchange between China and Italy.
Our category was named ITALY EXCELLENCE; the awardees, besides Polvanera, were GCDS, Illy Caffè, Pininfarina and Sanpellegrino (link here: http://italychina.org/it/la-fondazione/area-news/all/2022/12/1138/)
A truly proud and moving moment, a feeling of satisfaction for the choices (and risks) that led to great success.
"Being an ambassador of Italian wine to the world is certainly a great responsibility, especially when looking at distant countries, with traditions and habits, tastes and preferences often far from ours, but it is likewise a reason for enthusiasm and a push to do better and to tell our territory and our excellences while broadening horizons. To conclude that, really, wine has no borders, no barriers or obstacles: in the face of a raised glass, sharing is the only thing that matters," Filippo Cassano, owner of Polvanera
