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Digital Wine Ventures dominates McLaren Vale wine region as orders surge over holiday season

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By Danica Cullinane - 
Digital Wine Ventures WineDepot ASX DW8 McLaren Vale region South Australia

WineDepot now services 65 of an estimated 74 cellar doors and 160 vineyards in the South Australian wine region.

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Digital Wine Ventures (ASX: DW8) is gaining market dominance over the McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia with new suppliers joining its cloud-based distribution platform, while sales orders pour in over the festive season.

The wine industry logistics provider today updated its shareholders on the progress of its online distribution platform WineDepot, which as of the start of December includes the integration of the recently acquired SA-based Wine Delivery Australia (WDA).

In an announcement, Digital Wine confirmed WineDepot had shipped almost 25,000 cases in December, a significant jump from the over-10,000 cases shipped in November and a staggering 1,072% leap from December 2019.

The platform also processed a total of 12,884 orders during the month, representing a 113% increase on November’s orders.

“This equated to an average of 1.86 cases shipped per order, higher than the average of 1.65 achieved over the previous three months, as consumers stocked up for the holiday period,” the company reported.

New WineDepot customers

Meanwhile, the company added 16 new customers to its WineDepot distribution platform, including seven wineries from SA’s McLaren Vale region.

As a result, WineDepot now services 65 of an estimated 74 cellar doors and 160 vineyards in the world-class wine region.

“McLaren Vale is a prime example of how word-of-mouth, positive testimonials and customer referrals have helped us develop a dominating market share in a very short amount of time,” Digital Wine chief executive officer Dean Taylor said.

“I expect to see our penetration levels in other markets and regions ramp up too, as the grassroots efforts that we’ve made building relationships with regional icons start to pay similar dividends,” he added.

Mr Taylor also claimed the number of new customers was “relatively subdued” in December because potential customers were focused on maximising sales over the busy holiday period rather than making changes to their fulfilment networks.

WineDepot’s newly added McLaren Vale wineries included Alluca Vineyards, Bellevue Estate, Cape Barren Wines, Dodgy Brothers Wines, Foggo Wines, Paxton Wines and Sabella Vineyards.

Other new customers include Guildford Vineyard from central Victoria and Monalto from the state’s Mornington Peninsula, as well as Totino Estate Wines from SA’s Adelaide Hills region.

The business also welcomed wine brands from New Zealand and the United States, as well as an Australian seltzer producer and Australian beverage retailer Bevmart.

Digital Wine’s $2.4 million acquisition of WDA, which is in the process of being rebranded as WineDepot, brought 186 new brands and associated products to the business’ planned direct-to-trade marketplace, boosting the total number of brands on the platform to more than 300.