Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

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.

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

Getting ahead in the digital shelf war

Published: 08 June, 2017

With the mind-bogglingly fast growth of online channels, which in the context of many thousands of years of bartering and selling, is still a very new phenomenon, we scope out the e-specialists claiming to help your products fly online.

Vivino adds 'Netflix of wine' feature to its app and website

Published: 22 March, 2017

Leading wine app Vivino has today launched a wine recommendation engine aimed at helping wine retailers and merchants increase their digital customer reach and sell more wine.

Tim Atkin MW: Can artificial intelligence replace human judgment in the world of wine?

Published: 08 February, 2017

What do you think of the following tasting note? "Inconspicuous boysenberries and cigar wrappers revel in unresolved rosehips, while dried wormwood and chemically tanned leather swim amongst illusive black liquorice." And this? "Like a sherry, wet wool, mead, musk and nail polish remover cocktail."

Q&A: Courtney Quattrini, Vivino

Published: 06 February, 2017

As scan-and-share wine app Vivino tops 21 million users globally and begins to evolve its sales and data potential, we asked its communications guru for a download on what to expect next.