The FrenchCellar startup in Asia selling Wine subscription to Asian consumers will secure millions yuans to the Chinese Market.
Investment in China
ESW Manage Ltd, a private equity firm focused on investment opportunities in Asia, last week announced it’s 7-figure investment into Asia’s pioneering wine subscription e-commerce platform, ‘The French Cellar‘ (www.theFrenchCellar.asia). It acquired a 20% stake in the new platform.
The French Cellar has emerged as one of Asia’s Top 62 Startups in the Echelon 2014 and will invest million Yuans into the Chinese market in the next 5 years.
The ‘mass affluent’ and ‘high-net-worth-individual’ (HNWI) population is rapidly growing in Asia and particularly China.
Mr Wong Yat Foo, president of ESW Manage said in a statement; “from $20.5 trillion and $12.7 trillion, respectively in 2012, assets owned by mass affluent and HNWI investors in Asia-Pacific are expected to rise to $43.3 trillion and $22.6 trillion respectively by 2020.” With an increasingly sizeable and affluent consumer market coupled with a high internet penetration rate of just under 50% in China the odds are stacked in the e-commerce platform’s favour.
Investor Mr Wong will additionally be joining the start up as their director. With over 15 years of experience in cross-border capital market transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, he brings a wealth of experience to the company.
Import the Wine subscription concept in China !
The website imports French wines into Asia from vineyards selected by Mr. Nicolas Rebut, the former Chef Sommelier of famous 3-star Michelin restaurants including Louis XV (Monaco) and Le Meurice (Paris). Wines can be purchased online from the French Cellar which features an online subscription service, users can learn about French wine and benefit from being sent two selected wines a month.
More information on their official Website
Our goal is to bring the best wines France in China !
The company said in a statement; “Our goal is to bring the best wines France has to offer, at great value to our members. The French Cellar allows online members to discover two beautiful tasting wines every month, exclusively through our platform, thanks to a special and personal relationship we have between our sommelier and winemakers inFrance.”
This is appealing for the Chinese consumer as it is a personalized experience. The wines are delivered to the consumers home with unique and different wines being selected by an expert in the wine industry. This ensures quality and connotes a sense of prestige. People increasingly looks to purchase unique products online but will look for guidance when it comes to the overseas wine market.
In France, there are currently over 300 appellations and 115,000 winemakers producing over 7 billion bottles of wines per year. The interest in genuine French Wine is high in China with a demand for curation and specialist guided discovery.
Making French wine accessible, unintimidating and fun
Dr. Vincent Morello,,CEO of The French Cellar spoke of how; “we are convinced that the e-commerce subscription model for curated wines is the solution for the millions of wines lovers to address the challenge in choosing their wines.”
With such significant investment, an increasingly affluent middle class in China drinking wine and the popularity of e-commercial platforms, this is one start up to pay close attention to as it expands into China.
Other information :
see also :
- their previous Interview
- Review on Singapour Official Website
- Concept of Wine subscription
- About Wine Market in China
