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Digital Wine Ventures posts fivefold increase in WineDepot orders, appoints COO

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By Danica Cullinane - 
Digital Wine Ventures ASX DW8 WineDepot James Munn

Digital Wine’s online beverage platform has recorded a 557% month-on-month increase in shipped cases for March.

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It seems consumers are really embracing online shopping for their beverage supplies with Digital Wine Ventures (ASX: DW8) recording a surge in orders on its WineDepot platform in the last month.

The company today reported a more than fivefold increase in the number of orders processed and cases shipped for the month of March compared to the same period last year.

In total, its beverage distribution platform WineDepot shipped 25,311 cases last month, representing a 557% increase on March 2020 and up 21.3% on February 2021.

It also processed 12,272 orders – up 504% month-on-month and 29.3% on January 2021.

This equates to an average of 2.06 cases shipped per order.

Digital Wine also revealed it has welcomed another 27 suppliers to the WineDepot platform, as well as James Munn as the company’s new chief operating officer following the recent acquisition of his founding business, Wine Delivery Australia.

WineDepot platform growth

A year ago, WineDepot had processed 2,032 orders in the month of March – significantly less than now but at the time, this represented almost half of the total number of orders for the entire three-month period, which in itself equated to 150% growth on the December quarter order volume.

At the time, Digital Wine chief executive officer Dean Taylor said he expected volume growth to speed up over the coming months as consumers embraced online shopping while COVID-19 restrictions were in place.

However, a year on and with restrictions relaxed in Australia (at least in terms of retail operations), the platform is still hitting new records in orders and shipped cases – bolstered further by new acquisitions and continued growth in its supplier base.

In the last month, the company has signed up another 27 new suppliers to WineDepot. These include brands from the winery regions across most of Australia, as well as the Hawkes Bay and Marlborough regions of New Zealand.

This follows the 26 new suppliers that joined the platform in February and the partnership with leading fine wine and beverage distributor Bibendum Wine Co announced three weeks ago.

Wine Delivery Australia founder appointed as COO

In addition, Digital Wine has announced the appointment of James Munn as the company’s new chief operating officer, replacing Steven Alexander who has taken a general management role at warehousing and transport company Lineage Logistics.

Mr Munn was the founder of fourth-party logistics company Wine Delivery Australia, which was acquired by Digital Wine in a $2.4 million deal late last year.

According to Digital Wine, Mr Mumm is a highly experienced supply chain professional with more than 20 years of experience in the warehousing and logistics sector.

His history prior to establishing Wine Delivery Australia included providing specialist logistics advice to clients for Collaborators Pty Ltd and working as the managing director of point of sale, warehouse and logistics management firm Restore (Eastcoast) Pty Ltd.