5.6: Reaching the End Consumer within a Free Market - Retail, Online Retailing

Question 1

What percent of all wine purchases are now made online?

Answer 1

5%

Question 2

Give some examples of online-only retailers.

Answer 2

• The Wine Society in the UK
• Laithwaite’s in the UK
• Wine9.com in China
• Pinjiu.com in China
• New York Times Wine Club
• Sunday Times Wine Club

Question 3

What may be some requirements of ordering from an online retailer?

Answer 3

• require a certain amount of wine each year (e.g. wine club)
• minimum number of bottles per order.

Question 4

How might online wine clubs work?

Answer 4

• require customers to order a certain amount of wine each year
• may be wines of the customer’s choice
• or restricted to cases put together by the retailer

Question 5

What are the duties of online-only retailer staff?

Answer 5

• deal with customer queries, take orders and despatch orders
• wine advisor

Question 6

Why is the expense of delivery a significant disadvantage for online retailers?

Answer 6

• Wine is a heavy, bulky, fragile product, and delivery costs are therefore proportionately higher than for, say, books, clothes or even groceries.
• Retain the risk of wine being lost or damaged in transit

Question 7

What is included on a good online retailer website?

Answer 7

• detailed description of the wine
• food and wine pairing suggestions
• scores from wine critics
• medals from wine competitions.
• suggestions of other wines which a customer might enjoy, based on what they are currently looking at or have bought before
• customer reviews

Question 8

Give an example of an apps that only sells wine.

Answer 8

Bottles XO (China)

Question 9

Give an example of apps that sells wine in addition to other goods.

Answer 9

• WeChat (China)

- Pinduoduo (China)