mhicken August 26th, 2010

Malcolm Parry’s column in the Vancouver Sun today refers to my work on wine law & marketing issues today. If you want further information on legal issues related to the wine industry, you should check out my WineLaw.ca website and if you would like to help try to change our wine laws and taxation, please join us at the FreetheWine.ca website.

Tags: bc, laws, liquor, sun, taxation, vancouver, wine

• Marketing Laws , Shipping Laws , Wine Markup & Profit , Wine Taxes
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mhicken October 2nd, 2009

I just watched the video below which is a brilliant explanation of why the internet and social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) is dramatically changing the landscape for retailers and for government. Think about the wine industry while you’re watching it …

Thanks to the Cherries and Clay Blog for bringing this to my attention.

Tags: bc, facebook, government, internet, linkedin, marketing, regulation, social media, twitter, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Marketing Laws , Search Engine Marketing (SEM) , Search Engine Optimization (SEO) , Shipping Laws , Winery Web Sites
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mhicken July 31st, 2009

In a move of breathtaking hostility towards both the BC wine industry and Alberta wine consumers, the Alberta liquor board has recently threatened BC wineries with “criminal enforcement” action if they ship wine from BC into Alberta. The legal justification for this? An 80 year old prohibition era law which on its face prohibits all movement of liquor across provincial borders (even, for example, the act of carrying a single bottle of wine across the border with you for personal consumption). Many lawyers think the law is unconstitutional but it’s still on the books. Message to all federal and provincial politicians … help! Canadian wine consumers need to be rescued from our provincial liquor boards. Theoretically, we, as taxpayers, own the liquor boards. You would think that there might be more accountability in terms of consumer needs … unfortunately, revenue is pretty much the sole consideration. 

More information from the wineries perspective is on this site:

http://johnschreiner.blogspot.com/

More information from a legal perspective is here:

http://www.winelaw.ca/cms/

Tags: aglc, bc, laws, liquor boards, shipping, wine, wineries

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Marketing Laws , Shipping Laws
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mhicken June 22nd, 2009

Good article on the Wine Business Monthly web site today discussing the structural problems in Ontario’s wine industry. The article covers off issues related to overproduction, imported juice, “cellared in Canada” wines, direct sales, restrictive LCBO distribution policies, VQA rebates and domestic/import market share. The article points out that B.C.’s industry is much healthier than Ontario’s, partly due to better retail distribution for domestic product, VQA rebates and greater consumer acceptance of domestic product. However, there are common problems. Given Canada’s relatively miniscule share of the international wine market, wouldn’t it be nice if we had a common national vision in order to fix the problems and create growth for all Canadian wine?

Tags: bc wine, distribution, LCBO, LDB, market share, ontario wine, retail, vqa, vqa rebate

• Direct Internet Sales , Marketing Laws , Shipping Laws , Wine Markup & Profit
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mhicken June 1st, 2009

In a surprise development that could have far reaching implications for online wine sales, one of California’s leading logistics and fulfillment houses, New Vine Logistics, has suspended operations this morning. The shut down will have a major impact on many California wineries and wine businesses which depend upon New Vine for order fulfillment and processing. In addition, New Vine was Amazon.com’s partner in its fledgling online wine site which had yet to launch.

Update: the CEO of New Vine issued a statement today confirming the shutdown and indicating that New Vine is attempting to transfer shipping and fulfillment operations elsewhere for its customers.

Further Update: New Vine is now operating again after Inertia Beverage Group took over some of New Vine’s debt.

Tags: amazon, california, fulfillment, marketing, online, shipping, web, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Shipping Laws , Winery Web Sites
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mhicken May 4th, 2009

Interesting story on wine prices and taxes from Hong Kong. As you may have read here a few months ago, the HK government (SAR) removed the high duties on wine imports just over a year ago in a deliberate attempt to “promote trade and create related jobs in sales, storage and logistics” with a long term aim of becoming one of “the world’s great wine trade and distribution centers”.

Financial secretary, John Tsang, says that the strategy has been a phenomenal success. The volume of imports are up nearly 80% with U.S. imports up 500%. Tsang says that “several local and U.S. entrepreneurs have set up offices in Hong Kong in the last year, companies such as Vinfolio, Vinx Asia, Grapes International and Zachy’s”.  Imported wine is now cleared through customs rapidly in temperature controlled facilities … no more waiting on the docks in extreme temperatures. Hong Kong’s famous restaurant and hospitality industry is also pleased. There are 22 Michelin starred restaurants in Hong Kong, all of which now have access to more selection and better pricing.

While HK has no domestic wine industry, the lesson is there for BC’s government. If you want to build a thriving wine and hospitality industry, you cannot do it by taxing wine at excessively high levels such that you are internationally uncompetitive. Case in point: I just received an email from a U.S. wine store offering Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cab/Merlot blend for $2.99 a bottle if you buy a case. The BC Liquor Store price: $16.99. OUCH!

Tags: bc, hong kong, liquor, prices, taxes, wine

• Marketing Laws , Restaurants , Shipping Laws , Wine Taxes
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mhicken March 12th, 2009

Our related web site, Free the Wine in BC, is now live. The Free the Wine coalition is dedicated to reforming BC’s arcane wine laws and reducing our wine tax levels to sensible levels. If  you support our goals, please join the coalition on the site and, importantly, please also contact your MLA to request reform.

An op/ed piece appeared in today’s Vancouver Sun, “It’s time to get B.C. wine regulations out of the dark ages“, describing our objectives and the problems with BC’s system of wine regulation. In my opinion, reform of the system is long overdue on multiple fronts. Let’s try and make it happen before the Olympics.

Tags: government, law, LDB, reform, regulation, taxes, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Marketing Laws , Restaurants , Shipping Laws , Wine Markup & Profit , Wine Taxes , Winery Web Sites
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mhicken September 18th, 2008

There was an excellent article in the Globe & Mail (September 17, 2008) discussing Canada’s antiquated shipping law restrictions on wine between provinces. The article was by the Globe’s wine columnist, Beppi Crosariol. I was quoted in the article (along with others). See my companion site, winelaw.ca, for more details and updates on the shipping issue.

Tags: bc, canada, laws, manitoba, ontario, shipping, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Marketing Laws , Shipping Laws , Winery Web Sites
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mhicken September 11th, 2008

Reuters is reporting today that Amazon.com is poised to enter the U.S. retail wine market in October. Apparently, the U.S. internet retailing giant will partner with Napa-based New Vine Logistics which is already in the order fulfillment business for many American wineries. This partnership is likely to create a major shift in the U.S. wine retail business because a massive online supermarket will be created with fulfillment coming directly from a company that is already servicing many wineries. The cost to the wineries for using this distribution model will likely be significantly less than the current three-tier system that is in place in most of the U.S. The major stumbling block to the introduction of such a system in the past has been restrictive U.S. shipping laws. However, much of the U.S. has now opened up to state-to-state shipping due to the Supreme Court decision in Granholm v. Heald and a new wave of shipping compliance services (which includes New Vine Logistics).

Tags: internet, laws, marketing, retail, shipping, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Shipping Laws , Wine Markup & Profit , Winery Web Sites
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mhicken September 10th, 2008

The liquor boards in both Ontario and Manitoba have issued threats against two BC wineries (Red Rooster and Mission Hill) for direct shipping to customers in those provinces (see story from Vancouver Sun). They have also contacted the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Board who is now warning wineries that it is illegal to make these shipments. The legal explanation for all of this is in an earlier article on shipping for the industry which is on my companion site, winelaw.ca.

The real reason for these threats is, of course, lost revenue. Direct shipments to wineries in other provinces bypass the relevant liquor boards and their regime of markups/fees/taxes. However, Manitoba and Ontario do not have a monopoly on this type of behaviour. BC’s rules with respect to wine coming into this province are exactly the same (see s.65 of the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Act).

Isn’t it time for Canada’s liquor boards to reform this system? BC’s wine industry is receiving increasing international recognition and is now establishing itself for export markets. Many parts of BC (and particularly Vancouver and the Okanagan) are becoming global food and wine destinations. 2010 is just around the corner. A prohibition era system of liquor distribution is simply not appropriate for Canada in the 21st century … particularly, as we try to encourage and expand this increasingly successful wine and hospitality industry.

Update (2008-09-16): I have spent the last few days in the Okanagan and have discussed and analyzed this issue in depth with a number of wineries. Please contact me directly for information on possible solutions.

Tags: bc, laws, manitoba, marketing, ontario, shipping, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Marketing Laws , Shipping Laws , Winery Web Sites
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