Fine Wines n More grows steadily, despite FSSAI blip

Profile
Fine Wines n More grows
steadily, despite FSSAI blip
It has been a long journey for Dharti Desai after she set up FineWinesnMore (FWM)
with her brother, Mehul A. Desai in January 2007. FSSAI has been a stumbling block
for all importers but with a focus on retail the company has managed to ride the
storm. In an interview with Vincent Fernandes, she shares some insights on the
strategy the company has adopted to compete in a difficult environment.
How has FineWinesnMore evolved
over the years?
We have been doing well despite the ups
and downs, but given our experience in
direct marketing mail order, we have
focused on educating wine consumers.
We have now made a small beginning
with retail. The company has all three
licences needed to sell wine in India import, wholesale and retail. We have
now shifted focus with wine retailing.
The company has a retail shop attached to
their office premises, and is also close to
their wholesale facilities.
With the introduction of retailing the
company sales are 50% institutional sales
and the other 50 is consumer retailing,
which is a 50:50 share of sales to hotels
and retailing. You cannot sell fine wine
unless you educate the customer. But
we have managed to do this in a manner
which is not overwhelming. FWM has
opened its first retail boutique and tasting
room recently that offers an array of wines
from all big importers, in south Mumbai.
What is the portfolio strategy that
you adopt?
Eight years ago we had a huge
portfolio of wines and about five
years ago our portfolio grew to
100 wines. So we took a strategic
decision to trim our portfolio to
half the number. We liquidated our
stocks of high end wines and traveled
extensively globally sourcing smaller
family producers for good wines at
a good price. Lower prices means
lower MRP as all duties are charged
on a percentage basis and lower MRP
means better sales. Our wines of the
same quality were now cheaper than
that confront your business?
Market for imported liquor has huge
scope for growth in India but the stiff
regulatory environment, FSSAI, together
with state levies and high import tariff on
imported spirits sold through retail stores
and bars across states in India is difficult.
Excise duties have been stable. There is
also the constant threat from counterfeit
spirits which have been trying hard to
dent the growth of the market in India.
Any particular reason for not
entering the liquor segment?
We had an FL1 license but gave it up four
years ago. The competition in liquor was
too intense and we wanted to focus on
wines.
Dharti Desai
the competition.
It took us around one and a half year
to consolidate the portfolio which is now
a VFM one with just 5-6% of fine wines.
We have asked our producers not to give
us marketing support but to give us a good
landing price so we can do the marketing
effectively.
What are the major challenges
What is the extent of your
operations in India?
We are focused on the major metros like
Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune
and Gujarat. We had a big presence in
some of the Northern states but have
pulled out as most of the sales are in
metros and we did not want to waste our
resources on smaller markets.
What is the way forward?
The way forward is retailing and private
labels. We have built an e-commerce
platform to engage with the customer.
We plan two outlets in South Mumbai
and in the next 12 months we should
have one in Bangalore. Our private
label MTB is doing very well and the
wine maker has taken great pains to
understand the Indian palate. We also
get the price point we are looking for.
There have also been overtures
from investors, but this is my baby and I
would like to take it forward my way.
Fine Wine & Beer Boutique
13
AMBROSIA • March 2015