Case Study: Cru World Wine

Cru World Wine is a leading global retailer of fine wine and spirits. Thanks to Liv-ex’s online tool Wine Matcher, they are able to find opportunities faster than ever before.

Before - Manual and labourious valuations

Each week, the team receives many lists from private clients and the trade. Some of these are very long, containing hundreds of wines.

Valuation data is needed to help inform Cru’s offers. Private client lists need to be fully valued. Professional lists, which come with prices, need to be checked against the market to help identify individual opportunities.

“It used to be a manual process”, Winterton says, which required him to type in and check every single wine. Due to the volume and length of lists coming through, it wasn’t always possible to check through all of them thoroughly.

”"Wine Matcher means that I can save a couple of hours on a big list, but it's not just about saving time. It means that I can look at more lists than I could before – more offers, from more people."
Will WintertonFine wine trader - Cru World Wine

The Solution - Wine Matcher

Wine Matcher cleans and values wine lists in minutes. As it is a browser-based tool, this means that no development is required to get started. All you need to do is log in. The company were given a demo by their dedicated Account Manager and began using it shortly after. “It’s easy to use”, according to Winterton.

The Results - Hours saved, more offers

The team at Cru now uploads lists to Wine Matcher, which then returns the Market Price, current bid and offer, and last trade price of each wine. This information helps them to value lists and spot buying opportunities, automating a process that used to be manual.

“I can save a couple of hours on a big list, but it’s not just about saving time. It means that I can look at more lists than I could before – more offers, from more people”, says Winterton.

“When it comes to private clients, we’re now able to respond much more quickly. This is important because private clients are an excellent source of aged wine, and it’s rare that we’re the only merchant receiving their list. Everyone will go back with a roughly similar bid, so responding quickly gives us an advantage. It’s more professional.” he says.

“It also helps us make a more accurate bid. We download the last trade, current bid and offer, and Market Prices of each wine. The more data I have at my disposal – particularly transactional prices – the more confident I am. It’s a more informed decision.”