Surfin’ – Wine and Co. forecasts Hong Kong wine market – Brief Article – Statistical Data Included
Kevin Sinclair
The French-based Internet company Wine and Co. says the Hong Kong wine market will total US$1 billion by 2005, with about 15% of sales being online. They have confidently staked claim to 20% of those e-commerce wine sales.
Launched in Hong Kong on May 30, the Hong Kong Web site follows online success in France, Britain, Italy and Germany. Director of Wine and Co., Dean Stanton, says Hong Kong is seen not only as a sophisticated market in its own right, but as a gateway to China. Content of the Hong Kong site is in Chinese and English.
Stanton contends that the welcoming Web site will give customers the same level of care as if they were good clients of a superior London wine store where they know the owner. That level of care will go to everyone who strolls into the Wine and Co. Web site, he contends.
On the ground, Wine and Co. is linked with Hong Kong wine merchant Peter Chu and his firm of Orient Pacific Limited. Their agreement is that online wine orders will be delivered within 24 hours. Consumers can return unsatisfactory wines and get a full refund.
The company also provides corporate wine clubs for large firms and sells and delivers to hotels and restaurants. “We expect Hong Kong to be one of our most successful and rapidly growing markets,” Stanton insists.
Their philosophy is to offer the best quality, value for money products, with wines in each market picked to match local tastes and interests.
What’s on sale in Hong Kong, for example, will be very different wines than those on the German site. Information, tips, news and other content will be totally different.
It sees education as a major field and is committed to making wine understandable and approachable. Wine and Co. was founded in 1995 by Marc Perrin and Rodolphe Boivin as a web design company specializing in the creation of Web sites for the wine industry.
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