All the News | Strategy | Marketing | Technology | Profiles | Industry

WinesPlus.com winery direct program signs up over 60 wineries nationwide

WinesPlus.com holds a three-tiered license from the State of California that enables the company to function as an importer, wholesaler and retailer. This means WinesPlus.com can legally import wines from wineries nationwide and re-sell them to what is currently an $8 billion retail market for wine in California. By this summer, WinesPlus.com expects to have over 300 wineries signed up with the program; this will include both national and international distribution through its growing network of domestic and global partners. WinesPlus.com will be in four European countries by the beginning of the summer and will use these partnerships to promote USA wines internationally and also import new wines from Europe.

"The wine space on the internet, with regard to the BtoC market, has not met with everyone's expectations, least of all the investors", says Ron Johnson, President and CEO of WinesPlus.com. "After our launch last May, and sensing the failure of BtoC in general, we re-invented our approach by finding a niche market within the wine space to claim. Where we differentiate from our competitors is that in the largest retail market in the USA, we hold all three alcohol licenses and are using them aggressively each day. Our technology advantage (On-Line Real Time Inventory Control), which we have patented, is extremely attractive to these wineries. They can control what products they post to their website and what quantities they post (or subtract). We give control to each winery through an administration console."

Source:02/08/01 WinePlus.com

FREE NEWSLETTER, click here