Asia-based online wine marketplace WineFamily has signed up Corney & Barrow, renowned British wine merchants since Edward Bland Corney first set up shop in London’s Old Broad Street in 1780, as one of its wine retailers.
The move will see WineFamily, which does not carry its own inventory but instead invites wine sellers across the region to create virtual stores in an Etsy-style platform and sell directly online to consumers in Asia, add over 70 wine products from fine wine regions including Bordeaux, Burgundy and Italy to its online portfolio. Corney & Barrow – which holds a Royal Warrant of Appointment to HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales granting them rights as wine suppliers to the British Royal Family – joins more than 20 wine merchants, including South America’s largest winery group Concha y Toro, currently selling on the WineFamily marketplace.
Corney & Barrow’s Sales Director Oliver Hartley says that the company looks to extend on their brand presence in Singapore through WineFamily and engage directly with consumers through Grapevine, WineFamily’s integrated social network. The social network component allows partner merchants to create their own social communities, allowing consumers to communicate directly with wine makers and distributors. “Corney & Barrow has complete control over our online shop – we can select the best value wines from our illustrious portfolio and offer them directly to wine lovers in Singapore,” says Hartley. “Selling online in Singapore adds value to our customer’s purchasing experience, without any capital investment on our end.”
The British wine seller’s online shop on WineFamily currently includes many drinking wines known for value and quality, such as Chianti Classico, Chablis Premier Cru and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, ranging from S$36 to S$63. Corney & Barrow are also exclusive agents in Singapore for various wine brands, such as Bordeaux’s Roc de Cambes and Tertre Rôteboeuf, Domaine des Varoilles from Burgundy, Germany’s Schloss Schönborn, Tenuta di Trinoro and Tenuta di Biserno from Spain, and a number of wines from some of those brands will be made available for purchase on the site.
“Corney & Barrow’s addition to Winefamily is testament to an increasing appetite for wine in the region, a demand for ease of access to quality wines, as well as the importance of a social wine community,” says Winefamily’s founder and CEO Paul Gerken.
