vayniac and buying wine over the internet

Gary's video cast is creating a legion of wine lovers that buy wine online. Not that there weren't already people dong it but a huge % of winelibrary sales are going out over the 'net. A percentage unprecedented for brick and mortars, which leads me to the question, why don't even more people across the country buy wine online? here are my ideas of what prevents and what entices people to buy online.

Disadvantages?

1) Interstate shipping restrictions.
There are still many restrictions on the interstate shipment of wine, but recent court decisions seem to be chipping away at the old segmented system.

2) Shipping costs add a barrier to buying online as does the lack of tasting experiences.



Advantages:

1) People are very comfortable purchasing online, and a merchant that focuses on under branded wines (unknown, small producer, but with wines of high quality) increases the overall choice that people look for when they shop online. And examples like the rare wine co, porthos, winelibrary.com, and vinfolio at least exhibit that the convenience of shopping from your office, or sofa, is a strong attraction for customers.

2) Online communities are a powerful market force, online merchants that tap into this can reap much larger benefits than brick and mortar only stores.

3) The convenience of having the wine shipped directly to you.

4) The online merchant allows for one stop shopping, or highly specific shopping. Whether you use winelibrary.com or something like rare wine co, the online space increases the convenience of buying what you want. Are you looking for best price? It's all a few clicks away. Are you looking for a high quality little known producer from Bourgogne, La Loire, Bierzo? It can be once click away as well. All this instead of driving to a number of different stores to find the wine you are in the mood for that day/ night.

5) Not having a brick and mortar removes some overhead cost, and inventory cost. (Keep it low!)

Possibilities:

1) With recent legal precedents signaling a change in the interstate shipping regulations, a truly free cross-country market could soon become reality. Merchants who are in place before the fact have an advantage in addressing the new and larger marketplace.

2) Tapping into the growing online community space (web 2.0) a store can better address its customers with tighter focus in their marketing thus reaping increased return on investment.

3) with regards to interstate shipping, the current restrictions are a mixed bag of pluses and minuses. The restrictions protect certain markets from outside competition, while preventing online purchases being sent out of state. The ends in certain advantages for the retailer while reducing choice for the wine lover. These restrictions seem to have holes, however with some companies finding hteir way around them.

4) Wine lovers are adventurous, so an online merchant that focuses on bringing the latest brand to the market has the opportunity to tap into more of this adventurous streak, and attract a greater audience than a brick and mortar.

I'd be interested in hearing what others think.

Brian

Some disadvantages also include:

Damaged product. The lack of instant inspection the B&M stores provide results in the occasional bad bottle, which right now is very evident given the extremely low temperatures throughout the country, bottles are popping all over the place. Maybe not that big of a deal for a $10-20 bottle, but a much nicer/rarer bottle received broken or ruined as a result of shipping or freezing or cooking can be frustrating and costly.

Some websites are suspect at best with regards to customer service. I know of one site that routinely offers one vintage while showing a label image of another vintage. Not that big of a deal to the observant customer, but I've also heard a report of the label being one vintage, the offering being the same vintage, and the customer receiving a different one entirely [i.e. whatever they had on hand].

So far my own experiences have been positive with respect to customer service and quality/validity of the product offered, but the concerns are there. You can't look someone in the eye, which is a problem.

Damaged product, certainly caused by extreme weather, is unacceptable for me as a consumer. The stores shippping the product should have extreme weather policies to protect against that.

As for receiving the wrong wine (or vintage), or even bait and switch on the web site, also is a no no and should be protected against by the stores selling online. This type of problem would never happen at a brick and mortar and the online services should maintain the same standard.

I have not bought often online but I imagine that if I receieved the wrong vintage, for instance, that the store would have some "serious kissing up to do" But seriously, the online stores have to insure that what they post on their web site is actually for sale.

Brian