Single online sales platform of Armenian wines has been presented at the event on the 5th anniversary of Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia. The platform will enable to sell Armenian wines online in the EU territory and save wine companies from passing the complicated path of export on their own.

Executive Director of the Foundation Zaruhi Muradyan and Senior Expert on private sector development at German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Team Leader Armenia of Private Sector Development and Technical Vocational Education and Training South Caucasus (PSD TVET) Programme Aram Babayan spoke about the importance and peculiarities of the project.

Armenian wines were not available abroad: it was a serious challenge

Zaruhi Muradyan – We have carried out the project on creation of single online sales platform of Armenian wines together with GIZ. The problem was that our wines were participating in different exhibitions abroad but were not available for the local consumers. It was a serious challenge for us to understand what tool we need to develop to make the Armenian wine available in the EU countries.

The sales of alcoholic drinks sharply increased due to the pandemic – the people stayed in their homes and very often ordered wine via online platforms. We were not represented here either due to which the export of Armenian wines in 2020 reduced. As a result, we managed to consolidate tens of wine companies over a single sales platform.

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Zaruhi Muradyan | Image by: Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia

To ensure representation of only high quality wines on the platform we have decided to conduct tasting-contest in advance and create Wines of Armenia brand.

After the project was introduced to the companies, 36 wine companies joined us and 165 wines were presented at the tasting.

The next step we were to take was the selection of logistics warehouse. We started working in that direction two years ago. With the help of GIZ we studied the warehouses in the EU and together chose a company which would have made this service more flexible and available for us.

Why is Wines of Armenia platform important? What does it stand out for?

Aram Babayan – A lot of online platforms have appeared after coronavirus pandemic. I will mention few privileges Wines of Armenia has.
The most important one is that the presence of the wine company or wines on the platform is not being decided in Europe by the importing company – the decision is being made in Armenia as a result of tasting. In this regard, Wines of Armenia platform is an important opportunity for all wine companies irrespective of their size.

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Aram Babayan | Image by: Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia

We have supported the participation of different Armenian companies in European exhibitions for many years and we know well how the importers are making the decision to work with the winemakers. We know quite well that irrespective of participation in the exhibitions, the small companies have very small chances to be represented in the European market.

The next important privilege of Wines of Armenia single platform is that the activity and pricing mechanism is the same for all the represented companies and all wines. It means that the company that will manage the platform and the logistics warehouse cannot decide to sell the wines of one company better and the other’s worse.

Actual companies which will here in Armenia keep active contacts with their consumers abroad, will work well with tourists, will have better sales opportunities on the platform. Equal conditions have been created for all; no marketing action is possible for only one company.

We have tried to ensure protection of the interests of all the parties by creating right legal grounds as well – three different types of contracts have been worked out for the implementation of the project.

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Image by: Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia

The third important point is wine tourism. Our study shows that the contacts between the tourists visiting Armenia and our wine companies is being cut very quickly after the tourists return to their countries and do not find any platform to buy the wines they tasted in Armenia. With the creation of Wines of Armenia platform we are trying to solve this issue. The works on the website are coming to the end and soon the testing will launch after which Wines of Armenia single sales platform will be online.

The website will consist of two parts – the obverse – visible to all the consumers and the reverse visible only to wholesale buyers. All the wholesale buyers will receive a special password with which they will have the access to the platform and see the wholesale prices.

We have also reached agreement with the logistics company, according to which in case of wholesale trade they will bear the main part of the costs to make the prices as affordable as possible.

Yana Shakhramanyan