Discounts unveiled on day of sale
The French e-commerce site, which sold some 70 million items in 10,100 flash sales with a total turnover of 1.3 billion euro last year, is a relative newcomer when it comes to selling wine. Nevertheless, it managed to sell some 3.3 million bottles of wine in 2013, worth 36 million euro in turnover.
Vente-Privée usually applies a 30 to 40 % discount on its wine, compared to 60 % on average for other item categories. Whether the same discount applies to these excellent wines, is unclear as the actual prices were only revealed at the day of the sale.
Win-win for both parties
The flash sale, in collaboration with Château d’Yquem, has a double goal for Vente-Privée: it wants to come across as a website for those who buy wine, but it also wants to attract other prestigious vineyard. “Certain brands always so no, but if someone like Yquem says yes, then it’s hugely powerful”, a site’s spokesperson said.
Château d’Yquem also stands a lot to gain with this sale as the famous vineyard (owned by LVMH owner Bernard Arnault) will be able to test a new distribution channel. It will now be able to target more than 14 million Vente-Privée members, a majority of which are female (63 %). The vineyard hopes it will be able to open up a new market for its wine.
