Wine retailers all across the country, and especially online today breathed a big sigh of relief. Probably more than a few of them are popping corks in celebration.
The announcement more than a year ago that the online retail giant was moving into the wine business sent small shock waves through the wine retail industry both good and bad. Online retailers nervously fingered their Ethernet cables, and wineries optimistically looked forward to another channel to help them deal with a dysfunctional distribution system.
The plans were grand, and for a while it seemed Amazon was going to do things right. They even reached out to little old me (and a lot of other content providers, presumably) and began discussions about what kind of relationship, if any, might be mutually beneficial.
But apparently there were many a slip twixt the cup and the lip on this one. After aggressively announcing the program, not much seemed to happen. For a long time. And then, the fulfillment partner that Amazon selected turned belly up almost overnight. While I can’t believe that it was the primary reason, the implosion of New Vine Logistics may have been the final straw that turned the grand plans into the failed experiment that was announced today.
And yes, this may suggest that the hard times for the U.S wine industry are far from over.
