“The high street is dead”. “Physical retail is a thing of the past”. “Just rent a shed and sell wine online, it is the only way this is going to work”.
These are comments that I hear over and over again from people loosely connected to the wine industry. People who believe that they have expertise in how our business is run. Number crunchers, bean counters, consultants. They see an industry that has high costs, low margins and an increasingly "active" anti-alcohol lobby who believe a glass of wine will ruin your life. If this was all you heard every day, you would be forgiven for thinking that the time for the independent wine merchant in the UK was drawing to a close, and quickly.
But I disagree wholeheartedly.
Graeme Sutherland believes the role of the true independent wine merchant has never been more important
As I recently posted on LinkedIn, and the reason I am writing this comment piece, I staunchly believe that the UK independent wine retail market is not broken, but is in fact becoming more important and more relevant than ever for the survival of our industry.
Why? Because the wine industry is a confusing place. A place that is about stories, about relationships and about adventure. The thought of a future where all we have left is miles and miles of tunnel-like shelves filled with the same old Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot produced in huge co-ops (not that there is anything wrong with co-operative winemaking, some of the best wines I have tried recently come from smaller, quality-focused ventures) genuinely scares me.
The independent wine merchant sector is a place where small, dynamic, sometimes experimental, quirky producers find their home. It is a place where quite often the relationship between the business and the client matters far more than a shiny label or a price point.
It is a place where you go to geek out with new friends, discover new experiences and ultimately support and improve local communities.
Winekraft is one of the retail arms of The Good Wine People in Edinburgh
This has been exactly my philosophy with my shops in Edinburgh, WineKraft Canonmills, West End and Shandon, as well as our New Town watering hole Good Brothers Wine Cellars.
Each and every one sits at the heart of a small local community. A place where developing genuine relationships with our customers, our new friends, is everything. We support local events, we host tastings, drop-in evenings, and so much more.
However, with all that said, we have to be very aware of our clients' changing habits. People are becoming far more concerned with value. They are not necessarily looking for the cheapest price, but they are demanding that a wine stands up to the price point it is sold at, be that £12 or £30.
They are looking for more convenience. Things like a slick online portal, same-day deliveries, or online advice that genuinely mirrors the in-store experience. Click and collect. Honest pricing. Because let's face it, everyone can see everything online these days.
Innovate and change
So even though I truly believe that the indie merchant sector is remarkable, we need to look at ways to innovate and change. That's one of the reasons we built the Insider Wine Club at WineKraft, and why it matters to us.
This is not simply a discount club. Not a loyalty card with a lanyard and a fancy name. But a membership model built to do something that the number crunchers and bean counters tell us can't be done. To combine genuinely competitive pricing with the real, human experience of supporting an independent wine business staffed by people who actually give a damn about what's in the bottle.
Because for us, this is fundamentally about rebuilding the connection between customers and merchants. A model where our members can buy better wine with real confidence, order by the case online without compromise, and still walk into one of our shops in Canonmills, the West End or Shandon and be greeted by name. Where you know the people selecting your wines. Where tastings and events are part of the fabric, not an afterthought. And where honest, efficient buying means everyone benefits.
Ultimately, it is about community. The word we keep coming back to. In an age of faceless social media, algorithmic feeds and next-day delivery from impersonal warehouses, people are quietly, persistently, looking for something more.
They want to know where their money is going. They want to feel like their choices mean something. They want to belong to something. And that is precisely what an independent wine merchant, done properly, can offer in a way that no supermarket or online giant ever will. The Insider Wine Club is our answer to that. Not a product. A place to belong.
* You can find out more about The Good Brothers Wine Group at its website here.
