AI vs personal selling

Hi, any sales people on this forum. I would like to hear your opinions on AI vs personal selling. Do any feel that AI will replace sales peoples’ jobs in the wine industry or will there always be a need for personal selling and human interaction? Online wine sales is particularly popular with millenials yet I feel wine needs to be experienced before bought.

You might get better response in the ‘Wine Pimps’ forum.

I think you’re speaking of direct to consumer sales (as opposed to distributor to retailer).

Obviously , this is a complex question with no single right answer. I suspect that many on this board have relationships with ‘boutique’ wine stores where hand-selling is standard operating procedure and many appreciate that (I certainly do). Generalizing from my own approach and attitude, we approach wine as an agricultural commodity appreciating that minor changes in geography and climate have critical impacts on the wines and relishing the differences. Personally, I don’t have the time or money to taste as widely as I’d like so I read a lot and I appreciate help from knowledgeable sales people in temperature controlled stores.

On the other hand, we’re the vast minority of the wine-buying public. I’ve been told “I only buy CA wine because the temperature is much more consistent than Europe so I don’t need to worry about vintage.” (also “You can actually taste the alcohol in this wine; that means it’s really well made”). For the crowd that wants industrial beverages that taste the same every time who needs a sales person? Points are points and Rombauer is Rombauer (or Apothic is Apothic).

I’ve worked retail in boutique wine stores and hand sell. I don’t think AI will completely take over human interaction but I think that some kind of incorporation between the two would be ideal.

I prefer the human interaction. I have gotten some great wine suggestions resulting in my new favorite wine. I can’t imagine buying any other way.