Thoughts on Inertia?

Cellar Rats (ITB)
1

I dealt with them as a retailer in FL and thought it was a great program, what I’m really interested is what the folks on the vineyard side feel about it? Seems to me that it’s a great way for smaller wineries to (hopefully?) get way more money back for their wine. [cheers.gif]

Business model / Vineyard Side:
http://www.inertiabev.com/inertiabev/index.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Retailer / Restaurant Side:
WineRevolution.com is for sale | HugeDomains" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2

I always thought it was an interesting idea, if operating in a slightly gray legal area.

Don’t they take a cut of all your direct sales? 5% of gross or something like that?

That said, they offer a lot for that cut. Web hosting and the whole 9 yards, right?

3

I don’t know the numbers, but basically they legally enable you to ship directly to the retailer/restaurant. They also have salesmen who visit the states they service and showcase wines. I know you order the wines directly from the winery website after setting up an account. I’m sure they offer you marketing and other promotional options as a winery but really don’t know anything about it besides what’s on the Inertia website.

4

that, I think, is the gray legal area. AFAIK.

I bet Mary Baker would know? Mary?

5

Yes, I’ve wondered about the way they do it in some states.

I also hate their name, but that’s just me wondering why inertia in the wine business is a good thing.

6

CLASSICAL physics:

The law of inertia states that it is the tendency of an object to resist a change in motion. According to Newton’s words, an object will stay at rest and or stay in motion unless acted on by a net external force.

Newton’s First Law.

7

Dan, thanks for the link on this.

Cheers

8

Yes, I know that–so what are we to understand, that the wine industry is stagnant, lacks creativity, can’t move forward until something or some company comes along and pushes it, is it an esoteric reference to cellaring wine, or is it an esoteric reference to the wholesale rip off of the Dormant Commerce Clause–pun intended?

I’m sure there’s another possible reading of it that I haven’t considered.

You know, if you have to explain the joke… [shrug.gif]

9

Maybe they are keeping the wine moving until they get their asses shut down for questionable practices? [wow.gif]

10

I don’t remember how it works precisely. By the time they were up and running we were sold out of that season’s wine.

There is an archived eBob discussion here, in which Paul Mabray of Rethink/Inertia participated.

Primarily, I was interested in the FREE shipping compliance tool, which I still find very tempting. [give_heart.gif] However, I think I got partly through the winery registration process last fall and then just dropped it because we were in the middle of harvest AND wine club shipping. I can only do so much. Still very interested as I have dropped VA and a few other states, but we still have avid customers there. [cray.gif]

About their other services, I don’t really know as we have no plans as yet to use them. I could be wooed if I like the shipping compliance tool …

I do wish they were more proactive about sending out emails reminding people to check in and use the site, update label registrations, etc. I did send an email this week asking for help getting going again, but frankly I would have forgotten all about them if it weren’t for this thread! Here I get enews from Intellicontact, Virtual Response, and who knows how many other sales-related companies, but nothing from Inertia …

Right now I am getting started with Vinoshipper, based on recommendations from wineries I trust … just got my first customer request/question relayed from Vs. Anyone else here using Vinoshipper?

11

Kind of a late post, but had a busy day.

One of the guys from inertia offered us a 1999 Cali Cab last year. We were told the winery had been sold and inertia was “brokering” their library wine. The guy didn’t seem to know what he was doing as far as legally selling wine and just wanted a credit card number to set up the account with the winery. When Carrie gave him all our license information, he seemed surprised and asked what it was for. Carrie explained the info was necessary to comply with ABC laws and the winery would need it.
The whole experience seemed strange and convoluted but everything went well, including the replacement of a couple leakers and corked bottles. It may be that the company was just getting started on wine brokering or the guy we dealt with was new to it, which is likely, his card said he was a computer programmer for the company. We bought 5 cases and know at least 3 other retailers who bought 5 case lots. We haven’t been approached with any other offers since then.

12

Here’s a link explaining a little how direct-to-trade works:

http://blog.inertiabev.com/index.php/2009/03/27/direct-to-trade-direct-distribution-and-virtual-3-tier/

Sounds like it is still cleared through a distributor, so not all that gray?

13

Update on Inertia this AM:

Earth Times | News and Information about Environmental Issues" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I guess I’m still unsure how this all works. Is Inertia itself a wholesaler in these states?

Looking through their catalog, too, there are older vintages of a number of wines like Phelps and Jones Family. I wonder where these are coming from?

WineRevolution.com is for sale | HugeDomains" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interestingly enough, apparently they can do this in some of the more difficult states for consumer direct, like FL?

WineRevolution.com is for sale | HugeDomains" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I guess I just don’t understand this well enough…

14

It’s interesting to see that different wineries have different state-to-state availability. That would seem to suggest that Inertia isn’t the end-all, be-all distributor - otherwise all wines would be available in all the same states…

15

I believe that with different laws in different states they can only squeeze into the ones listed for now… For the 3-tier system they are acting as the wholesaler, but in laymen’s terms they are just clearing the legality so wineries can ship direct to reseller.

I remember our rep telling us that there is a group that holds and releases library vintages of different wineries, and they are distributed through Inertia. We did an offer on library vintages of Seavey that went quite well.

AFAIK there aren’t any distributors that reach all states, even the Southerns and Glazers have their limits… So unless you have a brand manager like Terlato or Dreyfus you have do deal with multiple distributors.

16

My interest is in their angle…what’s in it for them?

Presumably they set up shop as a licensee in these states. Then their software allows them to be a virtual presence, since wineries and trade can deal directly. How do they fulfill and clear orders, and receive shipments/deplete, though? Through a brick and mortar wholesaler? What’s the cut on that? And what wholesaler would agree to that? It’s like renting a hotel room for the guy who’s banging your wife, is it not?

Who’s paying for Inertia’s cut and where is my curiosity? I like it, though, especially the idea that someone who buys for a restaurant or shop and wants my wine (I know they’re out there somewhere!!) can just place an order with me via their software. I want to say I spoke with a guy there @ Inertia who said their cut is something like 5% of gross sales from the winery end? That seems reasonable but hardly worth the trouble from their POV? Unless they just run so lean with the software, etc, that their costs are very low?

Anyone here from the winery end included in their portfolio?