Amazon.com, the world's largest online retailer, is planning to sell wines to Americans.
A 27 February advertisement posted on Amazon.com reports that the company's consumables division is seeking a 'Senior buyer, Wine' for its speciality foods group.
'The senior buyer is responsible for the acquisition of massive new product selection,' the ad says, and 'will work to build an entirely new selection from the ground up.'
The buyer's duties will include 'calling on vendors directly, both from our Seattle corporate offices and in the field.'
Amazon.com's consumables businesses include its nationwide nonperishable grocery, gourmet and specialty foods, including 'a pilot local grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh,' in the Seattle area.
Amazon's senior spokesman in London said the company would not comment 'on what we may or may not do in the future'.
He added that articles which had appeared in the Financial Times and other newspapers and websites were 'pure speculation. We have made no announcement.'
Last summer, Amazon.com began pre-dawn local deliveries of fruits, frozen vegetables and certain nonperishable items as well as natural and organic brands. It began selling gourmet foods in 2003.
Amazon.com's media spokesman did not return a called yesterday seeking a further explanation of the company's wine-sales plans.
In entering the wine business, Amazon.com will face wide-ranging challenges in delivering purchases to customers because of complex and varying regulations governing alcohol sales in the 50 states.
Wine.com, now the largest US online wine seller, sells food gift baskets via Amazon, but not wine.
Rich Bergsund, Wine.com's chief executive officer, told decanter.com, 'Wine.com welcomes Amazon's participation in the online wine market. It would help grow and legitimize wine as a viable online category, make wine consumers more aware of the online alternative, and Amazon's presence might also help us open up more states to the direct shipping of wine by retailers.
'The US wine market is around $25bn, and only a small percentage is purchased online,' Bergsund said. 'There is plenty of room for Amazon as well as specialty retailers like wine.com.'
Have your say... To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com, making sure the relevant headline is in the subject field
Wine.com is anti-wine consumer and anti-free market. Frankly, it taints Amazon.com's image to be affiliated with them. Real wine aficionados do not use them.
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Wine.com's model is not the only legal shipping model in the USA. The original wine.com back in 2000 used our legal three tier distribution method which is still in existence. In 2001 before the original wine.com went out of business we distributed 30 million dollars of wine legally for the company. Six years later there has apparently not been much growth. Lionstone's program shipping legally through the three tier system to more states than wine.com's model more than triples the volume that wine.com suggests they did last year. Amazon.com would be much better using a flexible more profitable model than wine.com. That is not an opinion but a fact based on 30 plus years distribution and marketing in the direct to consumer channel.
One should not be frightened by the suggestion that only wine.com has a legal solution to direct to consumer shipping. Lionstone pioneered this business and is still the leader by far.
NL
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