TasteV: Shopping for Wine Gets Social, Lets Users Sample the Goods

Wine is best enjoyed with friends – and that’s the approach being taking by the new Chinese startup TasteV with its “invitation-only wine club” e-commerce site. Its selection of wines from around the world is curated by its senior members, and includes a social network where users can discuss wines, and maybe even partake in offline events such as testing sessions in which wines are screened for possible inclusion in its store.

The TasteV.com site, then, is a new contender in the much-vaunted social commerce sector. At its heart is an online store, of course – but one which its founder, Han Xuehao, insists to Chinese media is very different from the bland, supermarket-like experience on most e-commerce sites. Its website – which runs in both English and Chinese – says that it offers better prices on 99 percent of its wines than customers could get through normal retail channels in China.

The element of curation, too, adds an important quality filter than both guarantees getting an authentic wine – yes, fake high-end wine is an issue – as well as eliminating the disappointing wines that are pushed out by less-than-stellar vineyards. The B2C e-tailing startup says that only one in five of the wines it reviews generally get accepted into its store.

In addition to all that, TasteV also runs special “flash sales” in which members can enter into very limited sales of certain products at discounted prices. Ordinary users can participate in two of these sales every month.

High-end e-commerce sites often opt for such a curated and social angle, as we’ve seen before with the Chinese travel startup Zanadu, and the Indian “shopping club” Fashionandyou.

[Source: Donews – article in Chinese]