Wines Direct Retailers - Where To Buy Wine From?

How To Choose Your Wine Retailer?

It can sometimes be difficult to choose where to buy your wines or spirits from. Here's some advice to help you. Depending on which factor is most important to you, you will want to buy from a different type of retailer:

• Price: You will usually find the best price at superstores or big retailers such as Naked Wines. Because they have big stock capacities, they can negotiate very good deals with suppliers and pass the savings on to their customers. They also run a lot of promotional offers like "Save 25% off everything" and sometimes offer wine coupon codes so you get even more savings.
• Stock Level: Again, your best bet will be larger shops and bigger wine specialists. They have much more stock because their customer base is much bigger. However, be careful with online groceries shops because there's usually a limit of 36 bottles per order. Also be aware that they might substitute your items if they're not in stock in your nearest store.
• Choice: If you like having large choices, you could be happy with some superstore offers as some are expanding their range, especially online. However, wine specialists and smaller independents might be more suitable for you. They always try to stay clear from competing with supermarkets by offering a larger range with more rare wines.
• Rarity: If you are looking for the little gem you tried at this great restaurant, or on your holiday in Italy, your best bet will be independent merchants. They often stock wines that are less known by customers and can help you choose with an expert knowledge. Some shops will even specialise in one or two countries so you know they'll have more varieties to offer. Small shops have more freedom when it comes to choosing wines whereas supermarkets need to satisfy a certain type of demand.
• Customer Experience: If you are after an amazing customer experience and want to learn more about wine, you also might want to turn towards smaller independent merchants. This doesn't mean that supermarkets will have bad customer service, but it's a more formatted experience because they're a much bigger company. With smaller, family-run businesses, you can usually get the extra personal advice or friendly chat that bigger businesses can't always offer.
• Delivery Options: The bigger the merchant, usually the cheaper delivery options will be. Most big merchants will offer free standard delivery or Click & Collect, which is really useful if you have a store nearby. Again, this is because they have the infrastructure available which helps them keep costs down. Smaller merchant will usually charge you for delivery but might offer it for free if you spend over a certain threshold. You have to keep in mind that delivering wine is expensive. Because it's a fragile item, it needs to be in a special packaging.

We've tried to provide as much useful information as we could for each of our retailers. This way, you can make the best decision according to what's important to you. If you're still not sure about something, feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to help. For delivery inquiries, you should go to the retailer's website where they will always have full information about prices and excluded delivery zones.