Wine is a must for happy get-togethers and business negotiations. Combined with the application of modern technology, today we can buy our favorite wines online anytime, anywhere without leaving home, bearing witness to the prosperity of the online platform economy.
Asia’s first online wine trading platform
Traditional wine trading relies on wine merchants and auction houses, which, coupled with the wide variety of wines available and the volatility of their prices, makes it difficult to buy wines of one’s choice at a transparent price. Mariana Lam, Founder and Managing Director of WineWorld Xplorer, who has been in the wine business for many years, is always thinking about how to bring changes to the industry. “Actually, the online platform economy has been booming in foreign countries and the Mainland for some time, and I used to wonder why Hong Kong did not have an online wine trading platform.”
Backed by years of experience and a sizeable customer base she had built up over the years, Lam launched WineWorld Xplorer in 2018 when she saw that the platform technology had reached maturity. WineWorld Xplorer, a wine trading platform, had been two years in the making. The Hong Kong-based platform connects three established wine hubs (United Kingdom, France and Hong Kong) to offer one-stop trading services. The platform, the first of its kind in Asia, has aggregated over 20,000 wines of various varieties in just two years of existence.
Wine asset management is a future trend
In Lam’s view, wine is a very unique commodity that has at least three characteristics. Firstly, it is a consumer product that can be consumed and savored as a drink and is available in all price ranges; secondly, it involves wide-ranging and profound knowledge, and savoring and collecting fine wines have become a symbol of lifestyle; finally, it has unique investment and value appreciation potential.
“Fine wines are produced in limited quantities that will decrease over time as they are consumed, and they can be stored for as long as several decades, thus creating a market for investment in fine wines. Indeed, our platform also offers wine asset management services to help customers store the wines they have purchased. They may take out their age-appropriate wines some years later to savor or sell them through the platform. I believe this will be a major trend in the future.”
Hong Kong has unique strengths while the Mainland offers huge potential
Since removing all wine duties in 2008, Hong Kong has gradually developed into a regional wine trading and distribution hub. Lam believes that Hong Kong, as a regional shipping center, has inherent strengths for developing international logistics. WineWorld Xplorer currently also offers cross-border delivery services and will continue to strengthen its logistics support going forward, aiming to open up more services for logistics and delivery between countries.
With its business in Hong Kong gradually getting on track, WineWorld Xplorer has expanded into Singapore since last year. Looking ahead, Lam said that the Mainland market is very appealing. “When it comes to buying and collecting fine wines, Hong Kong is definitely the most ideal gateway for high-end customers in the Mainland. Therefore, she wants to extend the platform’s services to the Mainland and use the Greater Bay Area as a pilot site, with the aim of eventually delivering wines on time to any Mainland address specified by the customer.”
