James Halliday's Junovate moves into DTC space

James Halliday and Judy Pridmore are moving into the DTC space with an online wine marketplace "where wine lovers and wineries come together".

The partnership between Halliday and Pridmore's Junovate and Entertainment Group, Entertainment Wine Community, will launch in early 2022.

Australian wineries are invited to join the community which will give customers direct access to multiple wineries in one transaction.

Mr Halliday says, “The wine industry has faced numerous challenges in recent years, from droughts, bushfires and the pandemic. The smaller wineries particularly are keen to grow their DTC audience, so now is really the time to get behind them.

"Over the past 18 months, we have been working to support wineries by encouraging wine lovers to buy direct through our Cellardoor Challenge initiative, so joining with Entertainment Group to reach their customer base allows us to build on our efforts. We both share an ethos to support local and the community, and we’re excited to bring wineries and wine lovers together through this partnership.”

Sales via Entertainment Wine Community go directly through the winery, with no-upfront costs and intends to capitalise on the spike in e-commerce wine sales and market to what it describes as its "highly engaged Entertainment audience of over 700,000 customers".

The marketplace will enable wineries to feature their complete, or selected range of wines as well as their experiences, both at promoted and recommended retail prices.

Entertainment Group’s CTO, and incoming CEO, Ani Chakraborty says, “At Entertainment, we’ve established ourselves as one of the country’s most innovative programs connecting local businesses with communities and consumers and look forward to extending this to support the wine industry.

"It’s no secret Australia is home to some of the world’s best wine, so we are thrilled to be launching Entertainment Wine Community to showcase the full breadth of what the industry has to offer. This unique new marketplace is a place where our wine lovers and wineries will meet, sharing amazing Australian wines, and great experiences.”

The launch of Entertainment Wine Community comes after a tough 18 months of Australian lockdowns, in which local wineries saw a 23 per cent decrease in the number of visitors to their cellar doors according to Wine Australia.

The impacts of COVID continue to be felt in the wine industry and domestic sales and tourism have never been more important.

Sue Henderson CEO of Schild Estate Wines in the Barossa Valley said, “Customers are crying out for real engagement with wineries and we’re excited there’s an innovative new platform to connect us all while not losing touch of our shared interests of quality wine and life experiences.

"We look forward to welcoming those customers to Schild virtually through EWC as well as in person to spend when they’re able to visit us in the Barossa.” 

Patrick Corbett, co-founder and director of Singlefile Wines adds, “As a boutique winery in the remote region of the Great Southern in Western Australia, we are excited to learn how we can tell our story and showcase our wines to a whole new audience through this Entertainment Wine Community’s new DTC marketplace.”

As well as introducing hundreds of wineries directly to consumers, Entertainment Wine Community will also enable members to share the wines they’re enjoying, their experiences and recommendations with other wine lovers, while also receiving exclusive offers and rewards on their purchases. 

For more information or to register your interest , visit here.