Wineries on Kangaroo Island will get a helping hand to grow their businesses through improved digital interaction with customers, thanks to an $80,000 grant from the state government.

The Accelerating your Wine Business program will help businesses on the island that have been hit by both bushfires and COVID-19 impacting the number of international visitors to the region.

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham, who visited Kangaroo Island last week, said the grant to the Kangaroo Island Tourism Food Wine and Beverages Association is from the South Australian Wine Industry Development Scheme and will help wineries to enhance digital marketing and customer engagement.

“The resilience and strength shown by the Kangaroo Island community battling the dual challenges of bushfires and COVID-19 is impressive, and this new program will help wineries on the island grow their businesses as visitors return,” Minister Basham says.

“Local wineries are renowned for their friendly face-to-face customer service, but this new project is allowing them to use digital marketing to take the cellar door experience and the fine wine from Kangaroo Island to a new audience.

“The Marshall Liberal Government will continue to support our businesses and communities that need it and South Australia’s wine industry is critical to our state’s economy with exports worth $1.9 billion.”

Association chief executive Kylie Bamfield says the tailored program provides hands-on support for businesses with business planning, digital expansion and marketing to ensure successful global customer engagement.

 One winery has already prepared an export plan and applied for a grant, while others are introducing online booking systems for wine experiences, implementing customer relationship management systems and developing email marketing.

“This is about diversifying the ways customers can access our products and creating varied revenue streams to generate business resilience.”

The Association represents about 90 per cent of all the tourism food, wine and beverage businesses on Kangaroo Island.

The Wine Industry Development Scheme is a $1.8 million fund to build and strengthen the South Australian wine industry. To find out more about the grant program, head to www.pir.sa.gov.au/winescheme

Image by Michael Baragwanath from Pixabay