Wine wholesaler sees sour times for e-tailers
- — 14 November, 2000 11:06
Virtually every wine e-tailer is struggling, says Judith Kennedy, CEO of online wine wholesaler Boutique Wines.
They are grappling with issues such as too much growth too quickly and are taking longer than expected to work out how to make money from their online stores.
"We have associations with several small companies who are retailing online and none of them are anywhere near making profits."
In her view, most are still several years from turning the profit corner.
Only those with the deepest pockets will survive, she predicts. If so, the ranks of online wine merchants are headed for a wave of mergers, consolidations and drop outs.
As a wholesaler, Boutique Wines sits in the B2B space and is not experiencing the troubles afflicting the retail sector, according to Kennedy.
In fact staff numbers are growing for the two and a half year old company, she claimed.
