There is a new online wine merchant in town! Bottle Shock has launched a new wine web store www.bottleshock.com.hk to enable wine lovers to receive their range of artisanal wines, previously only available at some of the top restaurants in Hong Kong, straight to their doorstep.
Since commencing business in 2016, Bottle Shock has focussed on supplying some of Hong Kong’s top restaurants including being the core wine supplier for Rhoda, one of Hong Kong Tatler’s top 20 Restaurants of 2016 and now, with the launch of www.bottleshock.com.hk, they are completing long-held plans to offer a direct business to consumer offering.
Founder Adam Green said, “our core aim was to build a website and to provide an experience that was expert yet friendly and accessible as sadly it is common for the ‘stuffy connoisseur’ image to still dominate people’s perceptions of enjoying wine. We are absolute believers that wine is for any occasion and that there is a wine that’s right for every occasion and we want to bring that ethos to Hong Kong”.
However, value and accessibility do not need to be at the expense of quality, according to Green, “The backbone of wine production lies with small grower and producers often working land their families have owned for many generations and who make excellent wines which offer fantastic value. These are the type of wines we love at Bottle Shock, delicious and authentic with all the value going into what’s in the bottle rather than being spent on marketing budgets and brand positioning. With the way that the Hong Kong market is structured, in terms of duty and taxes, it’s possible to bring in brilliant wines that won’t cost the earth – basically $100 should buy you a good bottle of wine, $200 an excellent one and $300+ something really special.”
Commercially their offering also differs from the norm with a customer credit system, replacing more common product or volume specific discounts. This sees all orders over $800 (also the threshold for free delivery) earn 20% of their value back in credits to be used on future orders.
“We know that people living in large cities don’t often have the space to store lots of bottles,” says Green, “therefore, we didn’t want to try and force customers into taking un-split cases of wine to achieve a saving. Equally we want people to discover the wines they love across our range and, therefore, didn’t want to use product specific offers that drive people to shop on discount. By offering credits we can provide a generous reward to repeat customers which they can then chose to spend as they want, maybe saving a little on every order or perhaps saving up and having a few bottles on us at the end of the year.”
The website’s clean, modern and engaging design was created by local Hong Kong agency Grayscale and is based on Liana Tech’s ecommerce platform ensuring reliability and ease of use. “We’ve attempted to keep the customer and their experience at the heart of everything we do with the website,” says Green, “this means clear design, excellent functionality on mobiles and tablets and ensures that the content on the wines is relevant to both beginners and those already very well versed in the product. We hope to become a big part of further development of the exciting wine scene in Hong Kong and the launch of www.bottleshock.com.hk is an important step for us in achieving this.”
About Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock is a Hong Kong based wine merchant founded in 2016 to represent some of the world’s most exciting small production/artisanal wines in this dynamic and exciting market. By eschewing the big brands which currently dominate much of the market, Bottle Shock is on a mission to bring sustainably produced, great tasting, great value wines to Hong Kong’s ever-growing population of wine drinkers. Bottle Shock services both wholesale customers, including some of Hong Kong’s best restaurants, and consumers via its dedicated ecommerce platform www.bottleshock.com.hk.
Bottle Shock draws directly on founder Adam Green’s 10 years of experience working in the UK wine industry and the skills he gained completing the KEDGE Wine and Spirits MBA (the only AMBA accredited drinks industry MBA programme).
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