The Company is excited to confirm that Mr Dean Taylor has now commenced his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of DW8.
Mr Taylor is a digital pioneer and start-up veteran with seven successful wine ventures under his belt including Cracka Wines, Wine Ark and My Wine Guy. Mr Taylor stated he is excited about joining DW8 and the opportunity to drive a project that has the potential to release so much value and efficiency within the existing wine supply chain.
“Over the last 10 years there has been an enormous shift in the way that consumers buy wine. The online and direct-to-consumer segment is the fastest growing part of the market. Unfortunately the wine supply chain hasn’t kept up with the changing landscape and is still as inefficient, fragmented and lacking in technology as it was 10 years ago.
The challenge now is that modern consumers are demanding a broader range of wines, delivered quicker, cheaper and at a time of their choosing. In marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba consumers already expect free same day delivery. Wine is a heavy and fragile product that is expensive to ship. The only way that the industry can meet consumer expectations is by leveraging technology to generate the efficiencies and service level now required.
Our aim is to help digitally transform the wine supply chain with a ‘smart logistics’ platform that allows sellers to access inventory from thousands of suppliers and drop ship orders directly to consumers from strategically placed ‘depots’. Totally agnostic, our ‘depots’ will allow liquor retailers to focus on acquiring, retaining and servicing customers – leveraging our technology to take care of inventory management, fulfillment, customer communications and service.
With 50% annual growth last year taking it to $1 billion in trade for Australian wineries, China is a logical starting point for the global roll out of our ‘smart logistics’ solution. It’s an emerging market with no legacy wine distribution infrastructure, dominated by just a handful of well-known wine brands. Providing a platform that allows thousands of other Australian and New Zealand wine brands to access and develop a presence in that market is exciting.
At the same time we believe that there’s immense potential for our platform within the existing Australian liquor distribution market, estimated to be worth over $5 billion. It allows key stakeholders to reduce delivery costs and fulfillment times while releasing working capital that is typically tied up in inventory holdings.”
To support his vision, Mr Taylor also sees the potential for DW8 to make strategic investments in direct-to-consumer and on-premise sales channels, one of the fastest growing segments of the wine market:
“Our objective is to provide a ‘smart logistics’ platform that allows wine suppliers to expand their reach internationally and domestically. If we identify a particular market or sales channel that is outperforming others then it makes sense for us to provide it with capital to drive further growth. Investments into domestic supply and sales channels that we can then utilise in other markets such as China would make a lot of sense. Moving zeros and ones is much simpler and cheaper than cases of wine - and it’s time the industry harnessed the full potential of technology to eliminate all the double, triple and sometimes quadruple handling that goes on behind the scenes to get a single order delivered.”
Taylor also confirmed that he was committed to driving a full review of the Board as DW8 continues to transform and grow, bringing in individuals with the experience and the skills necessary to deliver the vision he has for the Company.