Online Wine Ordering System Launches in British Columbia

    Onlineorderdesk.com last week announced the launch of a streamlined wine ordering system to help restaurants, wine stores and other establishments ordering wines. The system is now live in British Columbia, where there are 180 wineries, and plans call for launching in Ontario as well as in Washington State, company founder Kevin Blucke said.

    The site offers an interactive electronic forum for wineries to catalogue wines and for buyers to order them directly from the winery. The wine ordering process, says the company, has been simplified to provide licensed liquor buyers with comprehensive and up-to-the-minute information on all types of wine inventory. The goal is to increase efficiency, revenue, and information for customers while offering a competitive advantage to wineries, agents, and buyers.

    Blucke said he realized there was a need for the site when he was the president of a winery in BC, because customers were frustrated with placing domestic wine orders and needed to place orders individually and via the telephone. He set out to create a single point where local wineries can list their wines for sale directly to licensees.

    Blucke said many in the industry don't recognize the losses resulting on local wineries because of licensed liquor buyers purchasing through government liquor stores. Local wineries are able to sell and ship directly to licensees but each has unique ordering processes, often involving additional time and stress to the buyer. Blucke said the net savings to the winery of using a direct sales system rather than going through the province averages an eye popping $5 per bottle.

    "What makes onlineorderdesk.com so exciting is that there is no added cost to order from our site. Wineries pay a modest, flat fee for us to host their pages which display their information and their products, making them immediately and easily accessible to every licensee in the province to order," he said. "This in turn creates a popular portal for wine buyers who can make informed buying decisions with ease."