According to an article published yesterday in the Financial Times, Amazon.com is gearing up to enter the online wine sales market.
Amazon is currently recruiting a Senior Buyer “responsible for the acquisition of massive new product selection, as Specialty Foods is an emerging segment and the Sr. Buyer will work to build out entirely new selection from the ground up.”
This isn’t the first time they’ve tried to get into wine sales. In 1999 they invested $30m in wineshopper.com, which failed a year later. Bad timing?
What does Amazon entering the wine market mean for all of us? We can only speculate, but here are my predictions.
Incredible Selection – Amazon is known for being big… very big. If I need something and I can’t find it locally, I go to Amazon and it’s usually there. I would expect that they will bring the broad selection they provide in other categories to the wine space. After all, the job description does say “massive new product selection.”
Unmatched Online Experience – Everything Amazon does, they do well. Well, almost everything. They are leaders in online usability and information architecture. I can’t wait to use their interface to search for wine.
Free Shipping – They have it for everything else, why not wine? This alone is a barrier that will bring in loads of business for them. I think a lot of people are intrigued by online wine sales—until they see the shipping charges.
Competitive Prices – Let the price wars begin!
Changes in Wine Shipping Laws – Money talks and Amazon has it. State legislators don’t give a hoot about the dull roar of wine consumers who want open shipping to their state. It takes big business to make legislative change happen and Amazon has the clout to get folks to the table. I don’t think this will be an immediate change, but I expect Amazon will chip away at it over the next few years.
Who knows if my predictions will come true, but one thing is for sure: It will be interesting.