The Digital Wine Ventures Ltd (ASX: DW8) share price is surging today after the company ended a trading halt with news its platform WINEDEPOT has partnered with a leading beverage distributor.
Digital Wine says the partnership with Bibendum Wine Co. will introduce WINEDEPOT to thousands of trade buyers. The company also announced that it would roll out its own delivery fleet.
The Digital Wine share price hit an intraday high of 19 cents this morning, up 31%. At the time of writing, shares are 27.5% higher, trading at 18.5 cents.
Let's have a closer look at today's news.
Bibendum and WINEDEPOT
The partnership between the two beverage suppliers means WINEDEPOT will stock a large part of Bibendum's portfolio.
Bibendum represents 160 local and international wine producers and craft spirits. It will invite its customers to join the WINEDEPOT platform, offering a $250 voucher as an incentive. The voucher will have minimum spend restrictions and will have to be used within a time frame.
The companies will also link their IT systems so WINEDEPOT customer accounts can be opened easily. The integration of IT will delay the partnership until late April. However, Digital Wine CEO Dean Taylor believes a faster uptake will offset any delay.
In return for its partnership with WINEDEPOT, Bibendum will have access to WINEDEPOT's logistics service, as well as a particularly large incentive: Should the partnership fulfil a number of achievements within 2 years, Bibendum will receive 20 million shares in Digital Wine.
These include Bibendum listing more than 280 products on WINEDEPOT and sending at least 4000 WINEDEPOT referral vouchers – of which at least 800 must be activated, thereby generating at least $800,000 in sales.
WINEDEPOT delivery fleet
Digital Wine also announced a partnership between WINEDEPOT and Direct Couriers.
The two companies will develop a dedicated WINEDEPOT delivery fleet for commercial customers. Deliveries will be dedicated to metro areas, allowing customers fast access to orders regardless of freight congestion.
Commentary from management
CEO Dean Taylor is excited about the potential the partnership with Bibendum has to fast-track WINEDEPOT's uptake.
Bibendum are without a doubt one of the most successful wholesale beverage businesses in Australia. You only need to look at the calibre of brands in their portfolio or speak with any major wine buyer to get a gauge on their position within the industry.
This partnership allows us to leverage Bibendum's unique product range, highly experienced sales force, long-term customer relationships and revered presence within the industry to drive rapid awareness of the benefits that our marketplace provides to trade buyers.
Bibendum founder and owner Robert Walters also welcomed the partnership.
I honestly believe that the wine and beverage trade has been crying out for an integrated trading, logistics and payment solution like WINEDEPOT market.
To play a key part in the launch of this revolutionary platform is exciting. It offers the potential of allowing us to service our client base at an even higher level, and this is one of the keys to our involvement.
Digital Wine Venture share price
The Digital Wine share price has had a remarkable year so far, and today's news has brought only the latest boost.
On Friday, the company announced that WINEDEPOT had partnered with eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY), which saw its share price soar 27% by the close of trade.
With today's gain included, the Digital Wine share price is up 375% year to date. It is also up a huge 1800% over the last 12 months.
The company boasts a market capitalisation of around $241 million, with approximately 1.6 billion shares outstanding.
