Yes, but being specialized is important. Regardless, this is an interesting story from Internet Retailer on the delivery apps that are partnering with local wine shops – to everyone’s benefit. [level-members]
The app makers benefit, the wine shop owners benefit, and the consumers benefit.
Atlantic Cellars in Brooklyn, NY is used as an example in the article. In signing up for BoozeCarriage’s app-based delivery service, the small shop found that it saw a tremendous increase in sales. This is partially due to an increase in their coverage area – from 4 blocks to 4 miles (which is a huge delivery area in New York City) – but also because the service was able to make it convenient for more of Atlantic’s target market to reach them.
Atlantic isn’t just a corner wine shop, though they certainly do stock plenty that would be familiar to just about all of us. They have carved out a niche as purveyors of a huge selection of craft spirits. And having a niche is key to succeeding because virtually nobody is turning to an app to find just another $9 bottle of wine. They have to be looking for something specific or for something a bit out of the ordinary.
This isn’t to say that every shop is likely to see the enormous growth that Atlantic did. Their location – a fairly gritty area of Brooklyn – doesn’t have much going for it (retail-wise) in the immediate vicinity, but within 4 miles … well, that’s pretty much all of NYC.
There are a number of apps out there doing this. It will be interesting to see how they shake out, particularly as Amazon begins to dip a toe into these waters. No need to worry about picking the strongest contender, though; you can sign up for all of them simultaneously. The competitors are listed in the Internet Retailer article. [/level-members]