Amazon.com has invested $30 million in WineShopper.com, acquiring a 45% stake in the Internet startup. The site opened for business on April 18.
"We begin with California consumers-18% of the nation's wine-consuming public-who are now able to access more than 1,400 wines, including the most popular wines in distribution, as well as rare wines previously available only at winery tasting rooms," says Peter Sisson, WineShopper's founder and CEO. "We are well on our way to realizing our vision of becoming the first national, branded source for wine."
WineShopper.com is targeting an estimated $100 billion global market for wine and offers content on a broad selection of wines. The site has content partnerships with Wine Spectator, WineToday.com, the New York Times on the Web and Boston.com (all part of Times Co. Digital), Wine & Spirits, Food & Wine and Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine. "Visitors to our site will be able to access reviews, ratings and editorial material from these and other leading content partners-including some of Wine Spectator's database of 77,000 wine ratings and tasting notes," says Sisson. "In the near future, visitors to our partners' Web sites will be able to link to WineShopper.com and order the wines they have been reading about."
WineShopper plans to fulfill consumer orders through its site on a state-by-state basis, aiming to serve 70% to 80% of the U.S. market by the 2000 holiday season. The company says it's working with more than 550 wineries, importers and suppliers, and 250 wholesalers in 45 states. It says 32 states have cleared the site for operation.
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