A Little Tweak
November 27, 2006
We’ve given winejunction a couple of little tweaks today. We’ve added a sitemap, privacy policy and resources page and we’ve enhanced the footer information at the bottom of the existing pages too.
In addition we’ve registered our wine blog over at Google webmaster central and we’ve submitted an xml sitemap for winejunction too.
EU Alcohol Ruling Means No Cheaper Wine
November 23, 2006
The BBC reports that the European Court has ruled against allowing consumers to buy drinks and cigarettes online at lower excise duties from abroad. However, the BBC report does go on to suggest that this decision could be a short term reprieve for the UK Treasury because planned draft legislation could reverse this decision in the future.
So, in the meantime, the best way to source out your online wine deals is to visit winejunction. Well we would say that wouldn’t we!
Lindemans Sponsorship Deal
November 17, 2006
Recently we’ve been watching the Ray Winstone drama, Vincent, on the ITV network.
This (sometimes violent) drama has been sponsored by Lindemans, the Australian wine brand. I thought this was a little bit curious..why associate a wine brand with a violent, private detective drama? Anyway, after a bit of searching I stumbled upon this which explains a little more.
The sponsorship deal, worth £3m, is for the prime-time drama slot in the programming schedules (Monday 9pm-10.30pm for Vincent) and is therefore not necessarily program specific. Doc Martin is next I gather (I’ve never viewed it). Why pay for the sponsorship? Amy Thomson, Lindemans senior brand manager says…
Our continued relationship in 2005, supporting drama such as ‘Vincent’ and ‘Doc Martin’ is a reflection of the success of the relationship and Lindemans increasing popularity. Relaxing at home in front of the TV with a glass of wine is an ideal fit for Lindemans’ primary message of ’simple pleasures’ and a natural territory for the brand to own.
For me though, watching some heavies beating the living daylights out of each other doesn’t make me want to partake in the ’simple pleasure’ of drinking a glass of wine. Looks like I’ll have to watch “Doc Martin”!
Virgin Wines Web Upgrade
November 17, 2006
Europe’s largest online wine retailer Virgin Wines is upgrading computer systems to improve security and ensure constant availability of its web site.
Site security is a concern of all online retailers of course and is not restricted to online wine retailers. Virgin Wines IT director, Stuart Hunt says
The security of customer data is the most important part of our business, ahead of selling wine, because people need to be confident when putting credit card details online.
Selling wine online is what Virgin Wines needs to do of course - they have no high street presence. They appear to know how to do that though because they sell more than 300,000 cases of wine over the internet each year.
Majestics Profits Up
November 17, 2006
The high street and online wine retailer Majestic Wine has recently announced a 17% increase in the first half the year.
I read with interest that the average spend per transaction at Majestic has continued to rise - up to £121 compared to £115 the year before. The average price of a bottle of still wine in now £5.66 against £5.54 a year earlier.
Online sales grew too with an increase in orders placed via the Majestic’s website up 43%. Online wine sales now represent 6.4% of Majestic’s UK retail sales.
