Page 34 - Sphere No.12 (Aug 2004)

SPHERE 32
Better still is the advantage Wine
Kiosks present to wine retailing in a
multi-cultural and multi-lingual society
like Hong Kong. The write-ups are also
in Chinese and Korean, with more lan-
guages on the way, including Japanese.
On the Grapevine
Looking into the future, Christian
Nothhaft doesn’t see any
reason why the kiosks
can’t stand as miniature
wine outlets in their
own right.
“Why not?” he asks.
“I could imagine the day when every
office or housing block has a wine kiosk,
like they have soft drink dispensers. Or
you could choose a wine, pay for it and
have it delivered to your home later.
They have dispensers for everything in
Japan already, so why not wine?”
Watson’s Wine Cellar sees a local
market saturation point at about
15 stores, a target it will reach within
the next year.
Despite its relatively junior standing
in wine retailing (the first store opened
less than a decade ago) Watson’s Wine
Cellar sees expansion potential in both
Asia and Europe.
A Hong Kong retailer making waves
in the bastion of “Old World” wine may
sound unimaginable, but Nothhaft
believes this vision is realistic.
“Firstly, given the huge consumption
of wine in Europe, with customers will-
ing to pay relatively high prices for good
quality, there is a fairly low penetration
of specialist wine stores,” he notes.
“Most Europeans buy their wines in
supermarkets.”
The most significant passport
to Europe, though, is the ASW
group itself.
As part of the cash-rich global
Hutchison Whampoa conglomerate, the
company can expand with relative ease.
Apart from controlling more than
1,100 retail outlets across Asia already,
ASW operates some 2,600 health
& beauty stores in 18 countries across
the UK and Europe.
“We are probably one of the most
competent retailers in the world, and
in Asia we are one of the few
companies with a balance of
business in Europe as well,”
says Nothhaft. “So we
should be able to find a for-
mula to expand wine retail-
ing. We have the expertise to do it.”
Proposals for expansion are already
on the drawing board.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity,”
Nothhaft adds. “Most other wine com-
panies are relatively small, often with
problems of cash-flow and being
squeezed by supermarkets and whole-
salers. We just don’t have the same
problems. We have all the backing and
resources we need to expand.”
I t’s very rare for a company to
encourage its staff to “drink on the
job”, but that’s exactly what Watson’s
Wine Cellar does.
Hong Kong’s leading wine retailer has
embarked on a programme to tutor all
staff up to international standards
in wine.
“It’s part of our mission to create the
best wine shopping experience in Asia,
says Ross Edward Marks, Manager
for New Business at Watson’s
Wine Cellars.
Marks is highly rated worldwide as a
top sommelier and he regularly oversees
tastings with staff to keep them abreast
of new offerings in the stores.
What’s more, around 50 staff are
undergoing comprehensive training in
conjunction with the London-based
WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust).
“Our goal is to have sales staff deeply
informed about our entire product
range,” says Marks.
Training will bring staff up to inter-
mediate level wine knowledge, and
those demonstrating an ability
to handle university-style learning
and who are especially enthusiastic
may subsequently be offered
advanced-level training, although this
HK$70,000 qualification is “not being
offered yet”.
To facilitate the programme, Watson’s
Wine Cellar successfully applied
to become an official Approved
Programme Provider for the WSET,
which is approved by the British govern-
ment as a national awarding body of
vocational qualifications.
Marks himself is an Approved Tutor
for the programme.
Ultimately, Watson’s Wine Cellar
hopes to offer WSET tutoring to inter-
ested customers as well.
“The idea is to offer mini-courses on
Bordeaux wine, for example,” says Paul
Liversedge, General Manager, Watson’s
Wine Cellar HK. “We want to make
people aware that we’re not just a big
company selling wine, but contributing
to local wine culture.”
R E T A I L
Taking wine retailing hi-tech with
interactive kiosks
A PASSION FOR W INE