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 June 24th, 2009

The California ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) Branch has issued an advisory on the possible illegality of certain internet marketing services that seek to sell wine (and other alcohol) on behalf of a licensee such as a winery. I have written a summary on my companion site, winelaw.ca, which describes the issues, most of which are likely relevant here in BC as well due to a similar statutory provision in the Liquor Control and Licensing Act.

Wines and Vines also covers the story here and the text of the advisory is here.

Tags: ABC, bc, california, internet, laws, LCLB, licensing, liquor control, marketing, sales, wine

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mhicken December 18th, 2008

A U.S. company, Drync, has just launched an intriguing new application for the iPhone which lets you search for a wine, retrieve ratings, add tasting notes, store the info, and even purchase the wine … right from your iPhone. While you can do these things using regular websites from most smartphones, the ease of use of the new app is amazing. Take a look at this video for a demo. As one commentator put it, the only thing lacking is the ability to scan the barcode of the wine to instantly get all the info. This would seem to be the perfect app for the tech savvy wine lover while navigating the aisles of their favourite wine store. Why bother with that store clerk who may have bad taste or simply be trying to move unsaleable product? Let the world’s wine critics have instant input before you plonk down your hard earned bucks.

Tags: internet, iphone, marketing, ratings, sales, smartphone, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Winery Web Sites
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mhicken October 20th, 2008

I noticed today that web browser requests sent to http://www.amazon.com/wine are now redirecting to http://wine.amazon.com although you get an “http service unavailable” error message once there.

Previously, all you got was a page not found error so perhaps amazon/wine is getting closer to launch.  It will be very interesting to see what the effects of this new distribution channel are on the U.S. retail market, particularly for smaller wineries which stand to gain a lot through the clout of associating with the internet retailing giant.

Tags: amazon, internet, marketing, online, sales, websites, wine

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mhicken October 9th, 2008

In a follow-up to my earlier posts on this issue, I note today that the French wine industry is organizing nation-wide protests for October 30th if the Sarkozy government does not back down on plans to both introduce restrictive laws governing wine advertising on the internet and raise taxes on wine. Earlier drafts of the advertising restrictions made headlines because they treated wine punitively and almost puritanically … the restrictions basically lumped wine in with adult content and restricted advertising to particular sites and particular hours of the day. In addition, the government has proposed increases to the taxes on wine … these come at a particularly difficult time for the French wine industry as domestic consumption is declining and international competition is increasing.

Tags: internet, laws, marketing, web sites, wine

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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

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mhicken September 4th, 2008

As you will likely have read, Mission Hill Winery is on a bit of a tear at the moment, having just won an award for Best International Icewine at the London-based International Wine Challenge.  Earlier in the year, the winery won Wine Access’ award for Best Canadian Winery. Travel & Leisure magazine also bestowed its winery restaurant with high accolades, ranking it in the top five winery restaurants in the world.

Of course, huge congratulations are in order for Anthony Von Mandl (owner), John Simes (winemaker) and Michael Allemeier (chef). These sorts of accomplishments also provide great benefit to the BC wine industry as a whole particularly in terms of international recognition for the Okanagan. If you have seen the movie “Bottle Shock”, you will have been reminded what affect and impact the “Judgement of Paris” had on the entire California wine industry. While only a few bottles were involved in that tasting, the results reverberated throughout the international wine world and gave Napa instant international recognition. Mission Hill’s accomplishments will likely have similar ripple effects for the BC industry as a whole.

In addition, the great press fits in well with the National Wine Export Strategy intiative (partly driven by Mission Hill’s Dan Zepponi) to establish beachheads of international recognition for BC table wine in key fine wine markets worldwide.

Tags: awards, internet, marketing, Restaurants, wine

• Internet Marketing , Restaurants , Winery Web Sites
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admin July 29th, 2008

I wrote earlier about some problems that various companies (such as MSN) were having with French internet marketing laws regarding wine. The problems continue as a leaked version of the proposed French internet marketing laws will treat wine and other alcohol in a category along with porn. Apparently, an organized anti-alcohol lobby has been effective in creating severe restrictions on all alcohol related marketing and advertising on the internet. Basically, wine producers will be permitted to market using web sites in a restricted fashion but no third parties will be permitted to promote those sites so the sites will become lame ducks. Intense criticism is now coming from the wine industry and there are hopes that the laws will not be passed. For the full story see this Decanter article on the proposed marketing laws. As I noted earlier, apparently we don’t have a monopoly on foolish liquor laws in Canada.

Tags: france, internet, law, marketing, wine

• Direct Internet Sales , Internet Marketing , Marketing Laws , Search Engine Marketing (SEM) , Winery Web Sites
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