Direct Wine Cellars

www.directwinecellars.com.au

1. Tell us about your business

We are an online wine store. Our specialty is Italian Wine and our wines are exclusively imported from a vineyard in Tuscany. Not only can people purchase online and have their stock delivered for FREE but we host wine parties! Its like Tupperwear, but with WINE!

2. When and why did you start your business?

We started in October 2009 after my partner and I had spent some time travelling Italy. We wanted to introduce good Italian Wine to the Australian market at prices WELL BELOW what people think of when they consider Italian Wine. We also wanted to break the misconception that Italian wine is just Lambrusco and Canei. There is a world full of flavour and varieties in our range!

3. On a personal level, what have you achieved with your business?

I have learnt to be confident about myself, my knowledge and the products. I have learnt how to be stern with people that haven't paid and I have learnt to never judge a variety of wine based on passed experiences. Wine is there to be appreciated. Whether your a white or red drinker, it is important to appreciate all wine and the process of making it.

4. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in growing your business?

There are one million other wine websites to contend with. We had to find a niche market to make ourselves stand out which is why we are sticking to the Italian wine theme. As we both do not come from business backgrounds, particularly not distribution, it has all been a huge learning curve. We also had quite a lot of problems with the website in the beginning which forced us to change servers/IT people and its all running well now!

5. What activities have been successful in promoting your business?

Word of Mouth. Google. The wine parties and our GREAT service!

6. What activities were less successful for marketing your business?

We haven't been around too long to know what hasn't been too successful. We did an ad in a local paper which didn't give us the exposure we were expecting.

7. Name your favourite thing about your business

We can drink wine every night and its considered RESEARCH! We also meet really fun people and have great nights out with people keen to learn more about our wines!

8. Who or what other businesses or business people inspire you?

The ultimate inspiration for me has always been Richard Branson. His motto is "screw it, lets do it". He surrounds himself with good, loyal people and made the most of every opportunity. He is an amazing man!

9. What are your plans for the future of your business?

We would like to be selling over 100 cartons a week and have hundreds of thousands of members. We want to be able to add smaller boutique Australian wineries to our portfolio as well as an "Australian Wine of the Month" promotions.

10. Share your best business tip with our readers.

Just go for it. Have a business plan, have a marketing budget. Don't be shy to tell everyone that you meet what business you are in and ALWAYS CARRY BUSINESS CARDS! Also, make sure there is repetition in your branding. Same typeface, same logo etc...for everything that you do. Finally, trust your gut. Not what the 'experts' think.

Visit us at: www.directwinecellars.com.au