Easy now guys and gals, I didn’t say I wanted the man to fail. I just was wondering what made him think we’re the right demographic for his idea. I’m all for getting wine cheaper… I mean, who isn’t? … but we’re picky enough to like one producer over another even if the vineyard and vintage is the same. If you gave me two Chapelle-Chambertins, one from Ponsot and the other Jadot, I’d drink or cellar the Ponsot but find a way to trade off the Jabot for something I enjoy.
If you care, you’re smart enough to (and were given enough information to) figure out what the wine is with minimal effort. I have no problem with the “I can’t tell Google Shopping what this price is, but I can put a fig leaf in front of the details” model. Kind of like 2/3 of the signatures on this site (mine included).
But you said I was a genius!
You are, and Albert Camilleri confirms it, but even a genius pisses some money away from time-to-time, in this case literally I expect. What did you buy?
I suspect this has a lot to do with it. With the prevalence of price matching by retailers these days these types of sales can cause distributor/importer pain which can then be passed onto the retailer in question. I’ve got a mate who manages a alcohol retail store here in Western Australia that was setup specifically to compete against the big alcohol retailer duopoly down here (who both price match btw). My mate would routinely offer a slab of piss for almost cost price and advertise it in the local newspaper to get people into the shop. Sort of like a loss leader, the only difference is that they’d sell at cost instead of a loss. Long story short, the beer producer actually cut them off as a client due to complaining from the other retailers who had a larger chunk of total sales. And the problem wasn’t that they were selling at that price, the problem was that they were advertising and selling at that price. People were taking the advertisement into the other big alcohol retailers, requesting that they price match, and cutting into their profit margins as a result.
Like Charlie said the target market for this type of business is people in their late 20s to early 30s who don’t have much wine knowledge but want to source and drink wine without much hassle or cost. Furthermore they’re most likely very comfortable with online shopping and they have the means in terms of disposable income to make these purchases with little to no thought.
Marcus’s point is quite astute as well, here in Australia Vinomofo is a booming business that appeals to people who’d most likely never post, much less read a wine board.
Finally I suspect these types of offers also tickle the same part of the brain that gambling does, the allure of getting a “premium” label for a low cost is too much for many to ignore. Maybe some of the crew from the Dragon 8 thread who commented about fMRI results can expand on this?
Whether wine is produced as a commodity or not, it is in fact treated as such and has been for years. People have both made and lost money on futures.
2013 Tortochot Gevrey Champeaux.
Yup, market research has shown that this represents a large percentage of core wine consumers. While it may seem crazy to most people around here, there are tons of people out there who buy a lot of wine and really only care about price, score, and region, sometimes only 2 of the 3. So, I won’t ever buy from this company, but I understand the reasoning behind the business model. We’ll see if it works out over time, but I’m pretty sure Garagiste has moved quite a few pallets with this same strategy, sometimes even where people will never know which winery they came from.
We’ve been asked to raise prices or take things off the internet quite a few times. There are LOTS of wines that suppliers or producers don’t want to see below a certain price. This was a huge part of the early success of flash sites like Cinderella. They can’t tell us what to charge as long as we don’t sell below cost, but they can decide to pull our allocations because of “too much demand”.
Intalligent means being in the upper 2% of the population… by height. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
You know, just how Ty Webb measures himself against other golfers.
But if the target market is younger people “who don’t have much wine knowledge,” why sell them something that says “Gevrey-Chambertin?” The average young person who really doesn’t know anything about wine is not likely to know what Gevrey-Chambertin is, much less why it might be desirable to drink.
I have no idea if there’s enough of a market for this concept to make it successful. I only know that when I was younger and getting into wine, I went to wine stores and found knowledgeable salespeople who took the time to talk to me. Perhaps that’s quaint and old-fashioned these days…
Bruce
Burgundy is hot right now even among non wine geeks. It’s not a huge deal about the vineyard only that it’s burgundy with a decent score and a good price.
When you were young wine store employees were nice to younger folk. Was not such the case for me, you can ask most young folk and they are generally ignored at stores.
This isn’t so weird. For years many, maybe most wine lists in Europe would show wines with appellation only, so you would be ordering Chateauneuf du Pape, St. Julien, etc. You still see it in BTG and carafe wines.
+1. I’m 30 and am, more often than not, ignored at wine shops and tasting rooms.
I’m not getting the vitriol towards this business. As everyone states, it’s super easy to figure out who the producer is…just google the tasting note, so it’s not really an unknown producer. Then go to W-S and see what other retailers are selling it for. If it’s a great price and a bottle you want to try…buy it, if not, then pass. Not sure what the controversy is.
I am with Bob on this one. That is an epic amount of hate for a complete stranger trying to launch a new business. Did some wine retailer kill your dog, or something? Are you new to this internet thing? Dial it down, dude - or you are going to get ignored/ridiculed pretty damn quick.[/quote]
Yep, killed my dog and cat too. Wouldn’t care if they hadn’t posted to WB. This is not their audience.
Yep, killed my dog and cat too. Wouldn’t care if they hadn’t posted to WB. This is not their audience.[/quote]
Seeing that some Berserkers have already purchased from him I call bunk to that statement.
Correct…it not only has a “lot” to do with it, price protection is the only reason in the first place.
Picked up three bottles of 2012 Volker Eisele Cabernet for $64.97 all in. Thought that was worth the effort.