Online wine business raises $6 million

Internet Retailing

29th May 2017

Just Wines has received $6 million in funding for website and tech upgrades, as well as the roll out of a marketing strategy.

With 3100 per cent growth in the past three years, the online business said it is has benefited from a dynamic Australian wine industry.

“The rapid growth we have seen does make us feel proud, but our goals are way bigger,” Just Wines general manager Matt Ford said.

“We have a never-ending list of new labels from some amazingly adventurous producers and on the other there are the old wine stalwarts delivering beautiful wines vintage after vintage.

“Our aim is to bring all suppliers together in one place, providing them equal sale opportunity and giving our customers a superior wine drinking experience.”

The company intends to use the funds to make the website more user friendly, as well as provide a personalised shopping experience to each customer using cognitive and artificial intelligence.

An app will also be available in the not-so-distant future, Ford confirmed.

Along with technology, Just Wines will heavily invest in a new marketing strategy led by marketing head Tanya Shahi.

“Our business enjoys a loyal customer base of 70,000 customers with thousands more joining every month. But, our dream doesn’t stop here,” Shahi said.

“We want to reach out to every wine lover in Australia and give them a chance to buy from us. Also, we wish to have good wine suppliers from all over Australia and NZ to sell with us.”

Just Wines currently has over 1000 wineries using their platform, out of which 175 are small and boutique. In the next few months, the business with focus on increasing the number of smaller suppliers to more than 1000.

“With an aggressive growth plan and committed team, we are not far from realising our dream of becoming the largest online wine business in Australia,” Ford said.