NYCWine.com offers free listings on Wine-Searcher.com to NYC wine stores

November 21, 2009 (PRLEAP.COM) Lifestyle News
November 21, 2009 New York – Metropolitan Vintners, the parent company of NYCWine.com, NYCWineReport.com and the New York City Wine Club, announces the launch of a new feature that will allow wine stores without their own websites to easily list wines online free with Wine-Searcher.com, the worlds largest search engine for wines with wine prices from 15,568 wine stores worldwide.

Through the new service with Wine-Searcher.com all wine stores that list wines with http://www.NYCWine.com will now have the option to have their complete wine inventory also listed on Wine-Searcher at no additional cost. "Wine-searcher provides a great service to thousands of stores worldwide, but unfortunately most small wine stores in NYC don't have websites and aren't able to effectively take advantage of the listings programs that Wine-Searcher provides" says Deanna Monet, Sales Director for NYCWine.com.

Adon Kumar, President of Wine-Searcher says of the service, "We are excited about the opportunity to work with NYCWine.com to help small and medium-size wine stores in New York City take advantage of the opportunities that Wine-Searcher offers." Founded in 1999 and based out of New Zealand, Wine-Searcher lists over 4 million wines online and services wine stores and industry professionals worldwide. The program with NYCWine.com is another opportunity for Wine-Searcher to add to what is currently the largest wine search engine online.

The Chief Marketing Officer of Metropolitan Vintners, Greg Loeffelholz, sees wine as one of the last online frontiers for digital direct-to-consumer sales. "The [wine] industry lags behind other retail industries like electronics, clothing and even grocery, in fully embracing the internet as a key channel for generating sales and attracting new customers." Loeffelholz continues, "Shipping regulations and conflicting state laws have also made the digital world more difficult for the wine industry." In fact, out of more than 350 wine stores currently operating in Manhattan, less than five percent have their own websites. Many of those website are purely informational with limited inventory and do not have e-commerce functionality.

The going rate for a basic website ranges from $5,000 to $20,000 plus up to a few hundred dollars a month for maintenance, which can be an insurmountable barrier to for small and even medium-sized wine stores. Web portals like http://www.NYCWine.com provide a much cheaper solution for wine stores that don't have their own websites, by providing an e-commerce platform and online inventory management system that allow any size wine store to maintain an online presence and take advantage of the millions of dollars in online wine sales that occur every month.

While many wine stores have been slow to embrace the internet, there are signs that the cold shoulder is beginning to thaw. Founded in 1820 and the oldest wine store in the United States, Acker, Merrall and Condit Wine Store has become a believer in online sales through its partnership with NYCWine.com. "We have been working with NYCWine.com for 6 months now and are very happy with the job that they have done", says Clifford Korn, Store Manager and industry veteran. While there are still hundreds of stores in New York City that do not utilize the internet, with services like http://www.NYCWine.com and http://www.Wine-Searcher.com making it easier and more affordable, the digital revolution is starting to take root here in the Big Apple.