Singapore wine entrepreneur: ‘Things will eventually go back to normal’
No thanks to the COVID-xix pandemic, the wine merchandise is facing some of its darkest days. Events have been called off. Winemakers can't travel. Restaurant patronage has dwindled, even if the establishments have pivoted to offering takeaways.
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But Susy Santoso, owner and managing director of wine distributor Alfa International and online wine shop ewineasia.com, isn't fazed. She still hopes to organise her company's annual Vino Discovery Walkabout in September, an outcome that lets visitors taste more than 100 wines from over forty wineries.
"I call up things volition somewhen get back to normal, we are quite positive most that," said the affable Santoso, who was born in Surabaya but raised in Singapore. In that location is a casual confidence in her remark; an underlying optimism. Santoso, 54, is an industry veteran later on all, having weathered her fair share of challenges in the wine business organisation.
"Doing a wine business in Singapore takes more than just a passion for wines." – Susy Santoso
In 2004, she started the wine distribution and eastward-commerce concern with her so-partner and French married man. Alfa International was created as a B2B business, while ewineasia.com was launched to cater to consumers. They began with less than fifteen brands in their portfolio.
"Back then, in that location were already some established wine distributors in Singapore, and not that many new wine importers. It was a tough market," she recalled. "French wines were the most popular at that time. People were not really ready to explore New Globe wines, and hotels and restaurants – our main customers – were dependent on such consumer tastes. So we carried mainly French and Spanish wines, and also a few Italian wines."
In 2013, Santoso took over the company later on she parted ways with her married man. As she came from a finance background and was hitherto managing the backend operations of the business, she had to adapt to her new leadership role.
That meant spending more than time visiting wineries and wine fairs around the world to find new brands, and edifice relationships with her clients. Her previous experience with bottom line management came in handy, though.
"Doing a wine business in Singapore takes more than simply a passion for wines," she said. "Sometimes people forget about the financial aspect of it considering y'all don't run across the numbers. Just in any business organization, cashflow project is very important. The numbers tell you what works and what doesn't."
Today, she runs a lean team of 12 staff. The visitor's portfolio consists of lxx brands, including summit names like Tertre Roteboeuf from Bordeaux, and Alvaro Palacios and Emilio Moro from Espana. About of the wines yet hail from Old World regions but a small number of brands come from New World areas, such every bit Miles from Nowhere from Australia'south Margaret River, and Mt Difficulty from New Zealand's Central Otago.
The New World inclusions reflect the taste of today's wine consumers; people who "are more knowledgeable about wines and willing to explore new things". Simply Santoso is prudent most diversifying her portfolio, preferring to stick to the Old World focus that has remained her company's strength.
"If you lot divide yourself over as well large an area, you may lose focus," she said. "Our well-nigh important benchmark for any brand is the quality of their wines. And then we look at how the wineries want the wines to perform in a marketplace like Singapore. You and the wine principal need to have a common objective. If his expectations fall beyond what we believe the market tin can deliver, the partnership may not work out at the end of the mean solar day."
Neither is she slap-up to bound on the bandwagon of natural wines – the ambrosias that merely nearly every hipster sommelier worth his tattoo has been promoting in the past few years.
"Nosotros like organic wines but we don't do 'funky' natural wines," she remarked. "Nonetheless, these [natural wine] trends have helped consumers discover unusual wines or those with bottom known, indigenous grapes."
For case, E.Foradori, 1 of the Italian brands from her wine list, offers a biodynamic white vino made from Nosiola, a little known, ancient grape variety from Trentino, northern Italy. "In the past, information technology was hard for people to understand such wines. Now they enquire united states, oh, what grape is information technology? Where is it from?" said Santoso.
Trade customers – restaurants and bars – overseen by Alfa International contain about 75 per cent of her company's full sales. The remaining revenue is generated from online wine shop ewineasia.com, which Santoso and her team have tweaked over the years to make the website more user-friendly. It is currently offering free deliveries for orders in a higher place S$100.
An interesting feature on the website is the Wines by the Mood selector, a shortlist that offers wines based on scenarios like Appointment Night and At the Beach. One of her marketing team members had come up with the idea.
"If y'all tin can communicate your wines with the younger crowd – who are very ready to explore new wines – you tin can capture their interest. This benefits everyone," she said.
She is aware that many online wine retailers have emerged in Singapore in recent years, with many selling wines at bargain prices. When asked what she is doing to stay competitive among these new boys, Santoso answered: "You need to believe in yourself.
"You can offset an online wine business organisation but it will take a lot of time, investment and resources to grow it. And since we source directly from the wineries, our stocks have a continuous supply. Those vendors who source from tertiary parties may non always have stocks."
"Whatever kind of concern will always have its own challenges," she added. "You lot need to have religion."
"I think things will eventually go back to normal, nosotros are quite positive about that." – Susy Santoso
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/singapore-online-wine-retailer-250951
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