Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Tech & innovation: Seismic shifts

Published: 14 April, 2021

We’re on the cusp of a new and advanced tech-fuelled era for hospitality as the on-trade begins to reopen, says Jo Gilbert.

London Wine Fair 2021 will be 100% digital

Published: 21 January, 2021

Organisers of the London Wine Fair (LWF) have discarded hopes of running a Covid-secure physical event and have now confirmed a virtual only schedule.

2021 Events guide

Published: 20 January, 2021

James Lawrence rounds up the highlights of the coming year’s events calendar

OIV gears up to launch digital transformation strategy

Published: 03 November, 2020

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) is gearing up to implement a digital transformation strategy spurred on by the pandemic having highlighted ecommerce as “an extraordinary determinative to more traditional distribution channels”.

Serving up a new normal

Published: 13 August, 2020

Covid-19 has given birth to the digitalisation of the hospitality sector. Welcome to a new era, says Jo Gilbert

Lords advocate ditching VI-1s in favour of digital wine passport

Published: 27 July, 2020

The introduction of burdensome VI-1 forms to wine entering the UK from the EU has found its way into the House of Lords where members debated scrapping them via an amendment to the Agriculture Bill.

Symington launches virtual School of Port  

Published: 22 July, 2020

Port producer Symington Family Estates has launched a new digital platform named The School of Port.

On-trade digitisation, premiumisation and personalisation are major trends

Published: 29 June, 2020

A digitised on-trade, premium in home drinking experiences and ‘liquid personalisation’ have been identified as the key trends for the year ahead by research and analyst company Rewrite Digital.

‘Wine online’ searches up by over 1000%

Published: 28 May, 2020

‘Order wine online’ has become the newest buzz word for housebound UK consumers looking to get their fix during lockdown.

Digital frontiers

Published: 30 October, 2019

Excel spreadsheets and WhatsApping account reps should be a thing of the past, say the brains behind OnStock, a new online ordering platform for the UK bar trade from the Vanquish and 31Dover team, as Jo Gilbert reports.

Major redesign for BNIC website

Published: 29 October, 2019

The BNIC has redesigned and expanded its cognac.fr website.

Tech: Bringing AI to independents

Published: 02 October, 2019

How can smaller stores compete with the sprawling technology departments and deep machine learning capabilities of giants such as Amazon and Walmart? NextOrbit’s small business networks might provide an answer, writes Jo Gilbert

The Wine Society unveils new look

Published: 10 July, 2019

The Wine Society has unveiled new corporate branding across all channels.

Bulk selling in a digital world

Published: 19 February, 2019

The launch of a new trading platform for the drinks trade promises to disrupt existing business models. Jo Gilbert investigates

New wine app promises to revolutionise the wine industry

Published: 05 December, 2018

My Wine Society has launched a new app it has dubbed “Facebook for wine”.

Gaucho sacrifices “struggling” sister chain in final bid to find a buyer

Published: 20 July, 2018

Gaucho has announced it is closing all of its Cau sites in order to focus on stabilising the Argentinian wine and steak restaurant.

Global Drinks Forum: a taste of future on-trade trends

Published: 13 November, 2017

Immersive experiences, category blur and premium drinks were hot topics at the recent Global Drinks Forum in Berlin, where the trends shaping the on-trade were put under the spotlight.

CIVB goes social with new winter ad campaign

Published: 06 November, 2017

Vins de Bordeaux is releasing a new ad campaign focused on digital formats and social media with the hope of engagining "younger" audiences.

The rise of the virtual sommelier

Published: 19 September, 2017

Last month we talked about virtual reality. This month we look at augmented reality and artificial intelligence and how the big tech companies are poised to bring the sommelier into the home. Jo Gilbert reports

Digital packaging: how smart is your bottle?

Published: 15 August, 2017

The impact of digitisation is so powerful that most marketers and brand designers are only just grasping the need for a more holistic approach, writes James Harmer of Touch design and innovation agency