IB Woman
Issue No. 42 - August/September 2008
Boutique cellar stars online
by Penelope Herbert
Developing a successful business can be achieved through diligent study, strategic planning and deft implementation. But a successful business can also be developed through the prudent handling of a great opportunity, as Jane Harris from Adelaide Cellar
Door proves.
“My husband was managing a wine export company when a 2000-case order of un-branded wine was suddenly cancelled just after the September 11 tragedy,” explains Jane.
“Because the blended wine was from two different companies we couldn’t sell it under the producers’ label. I was working as a primary school teacher and my husband suggested selling the wine as a fundraiser for charity.”
Such was the success of Jane’s part-time wine selling venture she took a year’s leave without pay to start Limestone Coast Export Wines.
“Cleanskins were very much in vogue, particularly as we weren’t selling into hotels and restaurants, just to private and corporate consumers,” she says.
“In 2003 we started the business in Hong Kong, becoming the first wine company to import non-branded wines into the region.”
Selling wines direct from the producers, business growth was swift, giving Jane confidence to source higher quality wines from other boutique wine producers. With a developing foothold in Hong Kong and a growing database of clients in Australia, Jane’s next move, in 2004, was to source even better boutique brands and change to Adelaide Cellar Door online. She saw internet sales as being the way the world was going and took the opportunity to consolidate the online cellar door activities of several producers.
“Our current business model was starting to gain clarity. We place a small, flat-rate margin on all wines regardless of price and we use the Australia Post Wine Delivery service.
“Brands that are usually only available at cellar door are stored with us on consignment. Because of our small margins, special delivery arrang...
