Raise Your Glasses to Niche Markets
There is a zeitgeist for business; to be successful, adapt to evolve. Whether Owner or Caretaker, and irrespective of size, sector or economic conditions, it’s an attitude that marks the business spirit for success.
All sectors of industry have witnessed demise over the last couple of years and, amongst the business maxims, phrases such as ‘glass half-full or half-empty’ and ‘keeping spirits up’ seem to be heard more frequently. Exampling the business zeitgeist, following a demise, and finding an interesting business model which is full of spirit, we therefore turn to the Wine Seller.
Marketing support to supermarkets guarantees shelf space and price cuts, of which loss-leaders VAT is reclaimable and it isn’t unknown for certain supermarkets to dictate what they’re willing to pay a producer, the likely result for those producers is their product loses its market value. Wine sellers and merchants go against the popular perception of business, with their niche market business model and a concept ‘less of more’. With wine sellers such as Cockburns nearly liquidated, Threshers and Wine Rack going into administration, supermarkets offering copious amounts of light lager for a tenner and economic subjectivism hovering, why should this Outside-the-Box type of thinking work?
At Vino, in Edinburgh, knowledge of their niche products supports and adds Value for their customers. Edinburgh and fine wines have a history going back to the Auld Alliance therefore Andrew Lundy and the Vino crew almost carry an historical responsibility for those wanting to explore the results of smaller producers and taking greater care with their choice, however, as a newly formed business, they’re injecting energy, pushing buttons and are ready to take customers out of their comfort zone with wines filed as proper wine not ‘plonk’. Having access to someone with an underpinning knowledge to give advice creates a distinction in itself and contributes to the ‘less of more’ ethos. Wine sellers, such as Vino, can’t compete with supermarket bargains however, take away VAT and duty from the till price of those wines and it’s worth remembering the French proverb, ‘The best use of bad wine is used to drive away poor relations’.
The niche approach is extended through Vino’s stocks of beers and spirits, local ales, craft brews, ciders, and not forgetting whiskies, enabling customers to partake in the pleasure of drink and the sharing of knowledge. The addition of a delivery and bespoke event service cements the niche business model of this fledgling business which has a passion to evolve. Like all good wine sellers up and down the country, the pleasure of ‘less of more’ isn’t just for the select few, and wine enthusiasm, as enthusiasm in general, is highly infectious; as opposed to addictive….. or in the words of a well-known philosopher ‘Alcohol – the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems’ – Homer Simpson.
(Image and Article credit: Copyright SUF)
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