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DiscoverWine

Executive Summary

Rationale:

Today, many wine consumers would like to move beyond their hedonistic appreciation of wine (i.e. they

like it or they don’t) and gain a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the wider origins and varieties of 

wine available. Most of these people, however, do not have the time or motivation to become deeply

researched or educated in wine, such as by becoming a sommelier. Wine sales are increasing across the

world, including the UK; therefore, opportunities arise for a business that can accommodate this growth

whilst capitalize on this wine consumer trend.

Business Idea:

To create a web portal that presents wine in a new way, that is accessible for consumers who are

looking to gain a deeper knowledge of wine without committing to being educated as a sommelier. Thewines will be presented using visual multimedia to give a feeling for the history, place (terroir) and

construction of the wine. Initially only a handful of wines will be on offer to new consumers, however, as

consumers buy and experience the wines that they buy, they will be able to discover new places from

which they will be offered more wine choices. The number of wines available to consumers would grow

as their knowledge and experience of the wines grows.

Mission:1)  To set up sourcing agreements with 6 wine producers within 10 key wine-growing regions in

Italy, thus, creating a focused range offering of 60 wines.

2)  Create a web-site which uses modern HTML5 technology to present the wines in a clear and

easy to understand and remember format.

3)  Set-up agreements distributors (e.g. JF Hillebrand) who can manage the logistics of wine

distribution, taking wine from the wine maker to the wine consumer.

Customer journey

Customer Problem:

The world of wine is hyper-complex, a real knowledge of it is reserved to professionals that make boring

technical diagnosis of the wine based on technical models. Generally, the usual consumer is influenced

in his choices by basic factors that are the color, price, suggestions from ‘experts’ (like wine guides) or,

probably, previous lucky experiences. They are also guided in their choices by brand and related status

(Champagne, Bordeaux Chateux, etc). Common consumer is not able to make any simple educated

choice.

Customer Solution:

Wines will be presented on a geographic map, such as on Google maps, so the source of the wines is

very clear and can be easily remembered. A small selection of wines from the different key regions will

be presented so that a consumer can quickly build up their knowledge of the different wine regions.

Only a limited range of local wines will be offered within each region, so as to avoid creating an

overpowering wine list (often seen on most wine-web portals). By focusing on the origin of the wines,

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the aim is to help the consumer learn where their wine has been grown (the terroir) and then develop

an understanding of the different types of grape.

Customer Experience:

The following outlines a summary customer journey: 

Step 1 - New Consumer enters the web site and is presented with 2 questions – type of wine (Red,

Rose or White) and sweet or Dry. Based on their reply, they would be presented with one

region and 3 wines bottles from that region.

Step 2 – The wines bottles would link to very short (60 second) interactive presentations that describe

the area, the wine maker and the wine.

Step 3 - The consumer would be offered to buy these wines in various configurations (3 bottles or 6

bottles). Possibly, one guest bottle may be introduced from a different region.

Step 4 - The wines would be shipped to the consumers’ home. Each wine would be accompanied with

a fact and taste sheet.

Step 5- If and when the consumer returns to the website – they would be invited to give very quick

visual feedback on the wines that they ordered – possibly winning gifts or holidays.

Step 6 - The ‘different’ region would be presented with 3 wines and the process continued.

Step 7- As consumers build their knowledge and the variety of wines that they have orderedincreases, they could receive a score or ranking which helps them to measure their progress in

relation to other members.

Business ecosystem

Suppliers (the long tail)

The aim is build up relationships with smaller wine producers (in the region of 100k bottles production

per year) and avoid the big producers.

Distribution (partnerships)

Distribution would be managed by a third party shipping and distribution company, possibly one thatalready has extensive knowledge of wine distribution

Promotion (local)

Some promotional activity may be necessary in order to initiate the brand building within the UK high

street. This could include wine tasting events in key major cities with web-site members being able to

bring their friends.

Revenue Model

The web portal would earn money via the on-line sales of wine. Consumers would be encouraged to

return back and purchase new wine. Special events, Christmas, birthdays, etc. could also be encouraged

through the use of social networks.

Future Prospects 

The idea should be scalable to sell wine in all countries across the globe and source from all countries

across the globe. Cross marketing activities could also start, with other regional products being also sold

through the

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Distribution Pricing Research

http://www.zelas.co.uk/international-wine-shipping-delivery.html 

UK Mainland Deliveries (no minimum order):

FREE local delivery for the following post codes in London - N6, N5, N8, N10. Free deliveries on orders

over £59 for all postcodes.Otherwise a small charge of £9.50 applies.

EU DOOR TO DOOR.

We deliver to all member states of the EU. The tariffs are:

Up to 12 bottles (£24.00), up to 24 bottles (£30.00), up to 48 bottles (£60.00), up to 96 (£80.00)

USA DOOR TO DOOR.

Up 12 bottles (£170.00), up 24 bottles (£300.00), up 36 bottles (£410.00), up to 60 bottle (£570)

http://www.winedirect.co.uk/shop_information.php 

Mainland UK deliveries are undertaken by Interlink:

£7.00 for 1 case of 6 and £8.95 for 1 case of 12 (per address) and £7.00 per subsequent case provided

that the wine is in stock and the order is received by 1pm.

http://www.corneyandbarrow.com/t-shipping.aspx 

Delivery within mainland UK is free of charge for orders with a value in excess of the prevailing minimum

amount (currently £200 inclusive of VAT). All other deliveries are charged at the prevailing rate

(currently £12.50 inclusive of VAT per order/delivery point).

http://www.jfhillebrand.com/GlobalHomePage.aspx 

UK market overview

In 2011, UK has been by value the largest importer of wine in the World and the sixth largest wine

market for consumption.

The largest exporter countries to UK are:

By value By volume

France 34% Australia 27.880 cases

Italy 14% France 19.447 cases

Australia 14% Italy 17.722 cases

The UK market value is around 12b£ (2010) and it’s estimated to reach the value of around 13b£ in

2015. In Uk, there are around 28million people that drinks wine on a regular basis.

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The sale of wine by value is distributed according to these channels:

Supermarkets/Hypermakets 49%

Multiple Retailers (Majestic & Oddbins) 25%

On-Trade (Bar, Pub & Restaurants) 19%

Small Indipendent Specialists & Grocers 7%

It’s estimated that in 2011 the internet retailing of wine in UK has generated around 6% of global off-

trade sales. The Uk online market is considered the largest in the world and the fast growing, despite the

general stagnation of off-trade wine sales.

The online offer of wine is massive and very fragmented, the players in the market could be divided in 3

main categories:

1.  Supermarkets/Retailers online shops

They integrated and leveraged their off-trade shops with a new offer. According to several

sources of information, they represent the largest share of the on-line market. The main

characteristics are:

-  Large catalogue, covering low and high-end market.

-  Interaction with customers through: Blogs, Customer Reviews, Food Matching and

Educational Tools.

-  Additional services: In store wine events and tasting, Parties and Weddings services.

-  Some of them are also experimenting mobile apps

- 

Very very limited internationalizationTop websites:

www.majestic.co.uk 

www.tesco.com/wine 

www.waitrosewine.com 

www.laithwaites.co.uk 

www.marksandspencer.com/Food-Wine 

www.oddbins.com 

2.  Wine Merchants

Small and large wine merchants that goes online to expand their market and to offer a better

service to their customers. The main characteristics are:-  Limited offer, normally high-end 

-  Personalized services: Be Spoke events, Cellar Track, Wine Storage, Buy & Sell & Club

Membership. 

-  Off-line wine seminars & education 

-  Charity programs 

-  No internationalization 

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Top Websites are:

www.bbr.com 

www.tanners-wine.co.uk 

www.seckfordwines.co.uk/ 

www.nickollsandperks.co.uk/ 

www.nywines.co.uk/ 

http://www.armit.co.uk/ 

3.  Pure on-line vendors

They have been established in the last years following the internet revolution and they are

trying to attract new customers through a huge catalogue of wines and better price conditions;

their market positioning is not very different from the Supermarkets/Retailers one. Many of 

them have closed their website in the recent years.

The main characteristics are:

-  Huge offer of different typologies of wine

-  Interaction with customers through: Blogs, Customer Reviews, Food Matching and

Educational Tools.

-  Limited off-line presence: some events and parties.

Top Web Sites

www.slurp.co.uk 

www.drinksdirect.co.uk 

www.winehound.co.uk 

www.winedirect.co.uk 

www.virginwines.co.uk 

Few of these websites, independently from the category they belong, are creating the so called “Wine

Clubs”, where the customers, paying a small monthly fee, receive mixed cases of wine to explore new

and different typologies of wine.

Beside these main categories, there are vertical websites offering only a certain typology of wine like

champagne, vintage wines or organic wines (www.sparklingdirect.com www.frenchbubbles.co.uk 

www.vintagewinegifts.co.uk www.vintageroots.co.uk ) or by country (www.australianwineonline.co.uk 

www.sawinesonline.co.uk www.amordivino.co.uk www.french-regional-wines.co.uk 

www.geowines.co.uk) 

Other online shops present in the market are the ones not based in the UK, but in other countries. They

are normally established in Europe (mainly from large producer country like France, Italy and Spain),

where regulations and shipping costs are similar to Great Britain ones. ( www.millesima.com 

www.1855.com www.wineshop.it www.designwine.co.uk www.spanishselectwines.co.uk ).

At the end, there are few websites that are out of any category:

www.nakedwines.co.uk is offering the possibility to support small wine-producers, buying in advance

their production and acting as a sort of “business(win) angel”.

www.snooth.com (US based) is a social community on wine (funded by VC’s) , where people around the

world could share their opinion and buy wine from local sellers connected to snooth. The idea is good,

but it doesn’t seem to have a huge success.