Online merchants get competitive

Naked Wines has embarked on two trailblazing initiatives – allowing bloggers to select its latest listing and a tasting dual with fellow online retailer FindWine.

The European Wine Bloggers Conference, which took place in Vienna at the weekend, saw delegates given responsibility for selecting Naked Wines’ first ever Austrian wine.

The social media experiment saw 200 assembled bloggers invited to taste a selection of 12 Austrian wines during the event. Naked Wines then committed itself to shipping the winning wine, making it available for sale on its website the next morning.

The final winner came from Mayer am Pfarrplatz & Rotes Haus, one of the many small producers located within the city boundaries of Vienna.

Its typical Gemischter Satz, or field blend, triumphed over better-known Austrian representatives, which included Gruner Veltliner, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Zweigelt, Blaufränkisch, Pinot Noir and sweet Ausbruch blend.

Prices were not made available during the tasting and bloggers were asked to select their personal favourite, rather than try to anticipate what might be most popular among UK consumers.

The wine is currently available via the Naked Wines website at an opening price of £58.80 per case.

Rowan Gormley, managing director of Naked Wines, made a clear connection between the retailer’s affiliation with small, independent producers and the potential influence of the growing global community of wine bloggers.

“What we want to prove with this experiment is that bloggers can do something that traditional media can’t. Bloggers can help find the little guys,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, the dual with FindWine will see the two retailers host a blind tasting with a series of “man on the street” customers in a bid to drum up extra trade in a unique customer benchmarking exercise.

The tasting will feature two price bands; £6 to £10 and £10 to £15. There will be eight sub-categories in each price band, across the style headings of Zippy, Aromatic and Filthy Rich (whites), Rosé, Light and Fruity, Soft-isticated (Ed: groan) and Richer, Deeper, Darker, Stronger (reds) and finally, Fizz.

The judging criteria is in the process of being finalised but the current schedule will see 15 customers from both FindWine and Naked Wines providing offer their opinion and who will choose their preferred wines (and ultimately, retailer) in the process.
 
Speaking of the initiative, FindWine founder Mike Howarth told the drinks business: “There are lots of ways to keep consumers interested in wine, but for us as a relatively new wine retailer, we need to work out how to keep customer loyalty without succumbing to discounting.”

Gabriel Savage & Jane Parkinson, 25.10.2010