It seems like the enterprise value of Wine Searcher isn’t just consumer discovery, but do they also get a full inventory update of each participating retailer on a daily basis? If so, it is also channel inventory holdings and, by implication, daily retail sales data. What distributor wouldn’t want this info across all their competitors?
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I’m not sure they get inventory data. In any event I don’t load my real inventory to my web platform so it would be understated.
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Thank you Eric.
10 Years ago Martin’s desktop wallpaper was a very small solid red rectangle of 600 x 800 pixels. It was a reminder to everyone at Wine-Searcher that old wine and new tech don’t always go hand-in-hand. Yet here we are today, using our phones to read reviews, sharing on forums we trust (thanks Todd), and hunting down the hard-to-finds to buy using our phones and e-commerce. Price-comparison and e-commerce work well together to provide consumers with more choice.
We’d like to think there are more bargains out there for Beserkers than ever before - and we are going to keep on helping you to find them!
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I had to remind myself who Flaviar is also. Not sure if this is how they grew to this level, but I first became aware of them as a company that created whiskey gift packages, clubs, and advent calendars such that consumers can try samples of different spirits (mostly just average or bad, very easy to find spirits). Whisk(e)y nerds get Flaviar packs gifted to them and don’t know how to get rid of them. There are probably hundreds of posts on Reddit describing Flaviar regrets, but if you’re starting from absolute zero knowledge and live in the middle of nowhere, there is probably some value. The packages feel like the type of thing a Total Wine store clerk would point you to if they didn’t have their store brands. They now directly sell many spirits and even good ones. Everyday products are priced reasonably, but sought after items are heavily marked up.
I’ve just become aware of, today, a new way Flaviar is leveraging W-S. You can go online and overspend 
on some Blanton’s, purchased directly from the W-S interface with a shopping cart and shipping and everything. This may have been discussed before, but I hadn’t seen this option before:
https://www.wine-searcher.com/marketplace-about
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Playing around with it, shipping seems not unreasonable and appears to be coordinated by W-S/Flaviar. You can order from many different stores, and you can send W-S an email to delay shipment, but no notes on for how long or if it will be stored somewhere with appropriate conditions, etc. I’d love to know how these are fulfilled and how they determine the shipping price.
I haven’t found a wine with a Flaviar checkout hit yet, but they note they are slowly bringing more options online. Flaviar checkout is in a similar vein to what has been rolled out by Vivino, but it obviously has much more potential. I assume the ability to pick and choose individual bottles from multiple places at once will put pressure on some retailers (who wish to participate), but I really have no concept of how the business end of this is structured.
Here’s another example of a cart with many bottles from 3 different retailers in different states:
HI B_Beachy
Yes, this is an all-new e-commerce trial… adding an ‘Add to cart’ button directly on a Wine-Searcher search results page. The secure ordering process is powered by Flaviar Checkout. The products are still sold by licensed individual retailers. Stores still compete on price, and WS continues to show the lowest price first.
It’s a trial, involving just a small number of participating retailers; no wines included as yet. The tech and the business end are a work in progress. The goal is a more consumer-centric one: price transparency + ease of ordering (credit card details remembered securely) + stock is 100% confirmed for immediate sale by the tech integration with a store’s point of sale system.
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Awesome! If I order from Kansas City in June, is coordination of a multi-month weather hold determined by the individual retailer(s), or somehow by W-S?
Also, do the retailers set the shipping prices and choose the shipper, or is there more to Flaviar Checkout than just the billing, such as logistics?
When I worked in DC, the holiday party that every single Hill staffer wanted to go to was the one thrown by the National Wholesalers Association. Every year, a line out the door.
Three-tier is here to stay (with a serving of pigs-in-the-blankets and cocktails on the side)
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How easy would it be to duplicate wine searcher. Add an auction sight.
Individual retailers set their own product prices and then fulfill orders. Keeping shipping / delivery prices from being a barrier to purchase is a key part of the program.
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what exactly would you want to duplicate and/or what’s missing from current wine-searcher?
which pos systems to you integrate with?
I’m imagining the pay to play on the retailers end may be getting expensive?
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What do you mean by that?
I don’t know the model obviously, but I’m assuming retailers are charged something by WS. I would assume the Flaviar is going to say they are adding value and that usually comes for a price?
I could be off base, but I also thought it might be an opening for a competitor.
Free for most. You can pay $220 a month to get to the top of the lists.
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Interesting, never knew that. Thanks
That’s it? The most a retailer could pay is $220 / month?
I imagine in the new Flaviar Marketplace, Flaviar will take a cut of each transaction.
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That fee also makes sure your listings show up for people who don’t pay for Pro. If you don’t pay, non-subscribers can sometimes see your listings, but no if enough paying retailers have the same product listed. I don’t know the details. It seems to me that most retailers do not pay. What is offered for free, to the retailers, is pretty great already.
edit to add: This is all from memory from a few years ago, so maybe Ross can correct me.