The number of visitors from China to Decanter.com has surpassed both the UK and US for the first time.
In April 2012, website traffic from China accounted for more than 26% of total traffic, ahead of the UK (24.6%) and the US (15.9%).
This is expected to increase to over 30% by the end of May.
The figures were released today at a Decanter seminar at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific called ‘Discovering the Chinese wine-lover’, and showed that in 2012, visitors from cities across mainland China had risen from 1.3% of site traffic in January to 26% in April, taking the country from 13th to 1st in four months.
According to a recent Vinexpo study, Chinese wine consumption is set to rise 54% between 2011 and 2015. In 2011 China moved up to 5th place in the list of the top wine consuming nations, ahead of the UK.
Decanter.com editor John Abbott said: ‘The increase in visitors from China is unbelievable, and shows a clear appetite for comprehensive wine information online. The timing is particularly apt, ahead of the launch of Decanterchina.com this autumn and we’re delighted to be reaching out to a burgeoning population of new wine-lovers.’
Decanter.com was launched in 1999 and currently has visitors from over 200 countries.
Written by Decanter.com staff
