A director of Chinese online retail giant yesmywine.com is aiming to create "the Interflora of wine", promising next-day delivery across China within a year.
David Pedrol is part of the senior management team of yesmywine.com, which has 65 million members and sells some five million bottles a year. He is also chief executive of Macro Asia, a Hong Kong-based company, which partners yesmywine.com with four other companies in Asia and Australasia: Kemenys of Australia, Advintage of New Zealand, Hong Kong's Cellarmaster Wines and Popupwine.com of Singapore.
Macro Asia has the stated aim of "building the first Asian multi-country wine delivery online" – or "the Interflora of wine in Asia", drawing on the example of the international flower delivery network, which has 58,000 affiliated flower shops in 140 countries.
The group, which launched last year, has a combined membership of seven million, delivers 10 million bottles a year and generates $150 million in revenue.
Its top-selling brands include New Zealand's Mud House, Maset del Lleo in Penedès, Gemtree (Australia), Bernard Magrez (France), Boisset (France), DeLoach of California, and Bordeaux's Fleur Cardinale and La Tour Carnet.
It sells other drinks such as Rekorderlig cider, Russian Standard vodka and Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.
Pedrol said he has met with U.S. online retailer wine.com with a view to delivering in the U.S. and Brazil, and companies in Vietnam and the Philippines "are interested" in joining the group.
Pedrol, who is originally from Penedès in Spain, told Wine Searcher that fulfillment was the biggest hurdle to surmount. Same-day delivery is "still a challenge" outside the major cities in China, he said, but "the way logistics are moving, in less than a year we will be able to deliver across China within 24 hours of receiving the order".
He added, however, that parts of China would still remain inaccessible. "The city of Ürümqi [in the far northwest on the Mongolian border] is particularly difficult."
According to sources such as Euromonitor and brokers CLSA, online spending in China is growing exponentially. Fixed broadband penetration is forecast to hit 70 percent by 2020, and mobile broadband to reach 85 percent.
Per capita online retail spend across all sectors is expected to rise from $48 in 2012 to $335 by 2020. Total retail spend is expected to reach $280 billion by 2017.
According to Pedrol, one quarter of wine purchases in China are currently made online, a figure that is expected to rise to 50 percent by 2020.
The group is aiming its services squarely at the gifting market. "Our biggest upside is middle-class gifting around the world. Wherever I am in the world, I send my wife flowers. We aim to be able to do the same thing with wine," Pedrol said.
