(Wines&Vines) - The growth of online wine sales is outpacing retail sales growth in most major markets as more consumers take advantage of the many web platforms that sell wine.

“It appears almost unquestionable that e-commerce will continue to gain share of retail sales, as it is clearly driven by consumer demand,” Stephen Rannekleiv writes in a new report from Rabobank that explores the growth of online wine sales.

Rannekleiv, executive director of the bank’s Food & Agribusiness Research division, cites an eMarketer projection that the share of online sales has grown by more than 20% per year in recent years and is expected to maintain a growth rate of nearly 12% during the next four years.

This rate of growth varies across global wine markets, but it is generally outpacing retail wine sales growth. In the United Kingdom, total wine sales grew by 3.5% in the first quarter of 2015, while online sales increased 11%, according to the Rabobank report.

Much of the growth in online sales comes is attributed to younger consumers. In China, nearly half of all consumers buying wine online are between the ages of 28 and 38.

About 30% of all Chinese wine sales take place online, according to a report by the Kedge Business School in Bordeaux, France. The school has been tracking online wine sales with its “e-Performance Barometer” since 2007.

Online sales worth more than $6 billion

In a study conducted by Kedge marketing professor Grégory Bressolles, the global online wine market was pegged at 6 billion euro ($6.4 million). Bressolles determined the French online wine market totaled $1.6 billion in 2015, which is about double what it was in 2013.

About 10% of all wines sales in France take place online. In the United States that percentage is much smaller. An earlier study by Bressolles determined only about 2% of American wine sales took place online.

At the Wine Industry Technical Symposium held this June in Napa, Calif., Laurie Rains, a vice president with Nielsen, said just 5% of U.S. consumers were likely to buy wine online. Rains characterized the online wine market in the U.S. as having potential but still essentially a niche segment of overall wine sales. While small enough to still be considered a niche market, online wine sales in the United States are undoubtedly growing.