Importing Wine etc.

randomshenans · 23 Jun 2015 at 14:52

Pie in the sky idea, but I love Cremant D'Alsace. If you don't know it; it uses the same method as Champagne and often the same grape varieties too. By it's location, it cannot be Champagne, of course. That said, it's often younger with most being NV blends etc.

But, it's very good and you can get a decent bottle over here for a very reasonable price. The presence of it in the UK though is pretty thin and being a great summer drink, and a shortage of Prosecco (apparently), I thought it would be a great thing to import in to the country.

I live amongst the vinyards around here, so I can contact this side and try and get the best price possible per unit.

Looking at some information online, it said that with the sparkling and that ABV, it would be (per 100L or 75 bottles) ~340GBP duty, which is about 4.5 a bottle.

Now, I'd obviously have to get it at an attractive enough price, coupled with duty and sell it on for a good enough margin. And in volume.

Hardest part is the offloading in the UK... I doubt anyone has done this, but any advice or thoughts on who best to approach for wholesale/ selling in the UK I could try and target?

Ta

NickK · 23 Jun 2015 at 15:13

I think you'd need to contact retailers directly and start doing some business trips around that.. then hope they'd don't attempt to go directly past you, unless you can show that you can be 'their man in the region' and add value that way then buying through you may be less risk than for them going direct.

If you're selling in the UK.. you'll need licences.. if you're going through a retailer.. then you probably don't need the licence to sell direct to joe public.

NickK · 23 Jun 2015 at 15:15

thinking about it there IS one nice option - that is sell via wedding caterers rather than wholesale retailers like tesco etc. This means they can offer a high margin 'cheaper' option to their clients.. usually they need some stock for tasting etc but still..

randomshenans · 23 Jun 2015 at 15:26

Yea, I've hit up Laithwaites and Majestic, going to see if I can go direct to some of the smaller independents, but downside there is volume.

I'll have a scout about. I'm good at making myself seem needed and important, so that should be OK... but you're right about going to the source and being cut out... I'll have to see about that too.

randomshenans · 23 Jun 2015 at 15:27

NickK said:
thinking about it there IS one nice option - that is sell via wedding caterers rather than wholesale retailers like tesco etc. This means they can offer a high margin 'cheaper' option to their clients.. usually they need some stock for tasting etc but still..

That's a fair shout actually. Better margins for me and better for them as well. I'll do some research.

taB · 23 Jun 2015 at 19:52

It's a lovely idea but everyone goes straight to source these days. Even for the smaller guys there's the ASDW. Can provide more info if helpful as on train atm but given the margins on wine in the UK I wouldn't think it'll be a winner for you. Think you have my email so happy to go into a lot more detail on that if helpful.

NickK · 23 Jun 2015 at 20:49

taB said:
It's a lovely idea but everyone goes straight to source these days. Even for the smaller guys there's the ASDW. Can provide more info if helpful as on train atm but given the margins on wine in the UK I wouldn't think it'll be a winner for you. Think you have my email so happy to go into a lot more detail on that if helpful.

Yup - lots of financial analysis and number crunching required before committing to it.. doesn't stop it from working but you'd need to beat the market..

randomshenans · 24 Jun 2015 at 08:09

taB said:
It's a lovely idea but everyone goes straight to source these days. Even for the smaller guys there's the ASDW. Can provide more info if helpful as on train atm but given the margins on wine in the UK I wouldn't think it'll be a winner for you. Think you have my email so happy to go into a lot more detail on that if helpful.

Cheers man, yea, I'll drop you a mail.

randomshenans · 24 Jun 2015 at 13:35

Bottles in it for anyone who can help

Martynt74 · 24 Jun 2015 at 13:57

I think part of the issue is that to sell at something decent enough to make a bit of money (£10-£15) per bottle.

People are likely to just prefer drinking Cava/Prosecco which is available for around half of that. The fact Crement is not very well known (similar to the Italian Franciacorta) means people will assume it's crap.

Aldi do a Crement (albeit not very good) for around £6.99. As such you probably need to be hitting around this price point for people to consider it and at that point it's competeing against Cava/Prosecco which are much better known. Anything above the £10 mark and the majority of people will just spend a few quid extra to get cheap Champagne because they assume it's better.

Majestic have their own people (in fact I believe they have their own store in Calais) so I imagine would just go direct to the source or use their own people.

Martynt74 · 24 Jun 2015 at 13:58

That post is terribly structured and I apologise!

HazardO · 24 Jun 2015 at 14:37

You could try asking Noel Young from www.nywines.co.uk

He's a producer/importer/retailer and a judge for IWC or Decanter (I forget which).
(His own label is Magpie estate).

I've seen his wines selling at other retailers and on slurp, so he probably knows all there is to know on the subject.

randomshenans · 24 Jun 2015 at 15:08

Thanks guys, I'll have a look Hazard and Marv, this is what I heard when I spoke to the guy at Tanners. He was like, people tend to just go for a pro/cava as they know it and can get that 7-9quid price point. Whereas you start hitting 15quid and as it's an "unknown" they'd rather go for prosecco as they know it... even though it's worse.

People are stupid.

I'll still have a hunt about though!

Martynt74 · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:13

Also the fact that we've all helped means you are contractually obliged to send us multiple bottles.

You never specified that the help had to be positive!

NickK · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:30

randomshenans said:
Thanks guys, I'll have a look Hazard and Marv, this is what I heard when I spoke to the guy at Tanners. He was like, people tend to just go for a pro/cava as they know it and can get that 7-9quid price point. Whereas you start hitting 15quid and as it's an "unknown" they'd rather go for prosecco as they know it... even though it's worse.

People are stupid.

I'll still have a hunt about though!

That's where you need to build a plan.. that covers:
1. who to target
2. how to target
3. answers to the common questions
4. pricing approach

For example - if you targeted wedding planners/caterers that offer high end champers, for those clients there are two types:

a. client wants champers and can afford it - the point here is to convince them that going for your champers offers the best return, taste the difference and show the saving that they could use for other parts of the catering or wedding. Tasting here is vital is it shows the quality is not dropped and infact taste/quality is probably higher than the cheaper champers. Money saving may be less than image/quality as a criteria. If you can sell as "we had our french wine advisor pick this for us - much nicer than Moet!".

b. clients that have not considered champers because it's too expensive, here you're looking to entice them to make the jump - it may be a little more expensive or the same price as the 'top rate' sparkly wine.. but you will need to price so that the real champers are seen to be more expensive by a margin. You will also need to price against the sparkling wine competition. Money vs quality is the issue here as people will be at the top of their price bracket potentially.

The reason I would do both is that for every decision point you should halve (or initially quarter as you're unknown) your positives.

In reality it would be good not to focus on the price as the initial selling factor - instead show the location is in the same area as champagne but can't be called it due to EU regulations. The danger is the english skepticism - so be ready to have a tasting or turning up to wedding fates to provide tasting to prove it.

When I had my wedding in France, I was confident due to the way that the planner and chef could articulate between my favoured St Emillion/Pomerol taste profile and the food we'd selected. In the end I can'd remember if we did or didn't go for the St.Emillion (both were options from the catering).. but I do remember that the meal went down so well that everyone keeps reminding me about it (and not because it was our wedding!).
So being able to taste and to articulate is key..