2021 - The Year of the Wine and Spirits Buyer

By Cheryl Durzy

What a year 2020 has been. I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a whirlwind for everyone. While I’ve dealt with my own personal challenges this year, I feel very fortunate that LibDib has experienced a year of growth. We know that many businesses are struggling and I hope that all our Makers, Buyers and other industry partners in the wine and spirits industry are safe and healthy during this time. Since LibDib launched in March, 2017, we have helped nearly 1,000 wine and spirits producers gain distribution into key markets. As founder of this company, this makes me undeniably happy and proud.

Now we think ahead to LibDib’s 2021 mantra. With an amazing wine and spirits portfolio, a breadth of products, and the technology to advance the Buyer’s ecommerce experience on LibDib, we see 2021 as ‘The Year of the Buyer.’

Our portfolio of thousands of small batch wines and spirits brands needs to be shared with every retailer and on-premise account (when they are ready of course, thinking of you restaurants and bars). LibDib carries products that can bring in more margin and wow consumers. Since we carry small production products, most of what we offer supports small, local business too. Win, win, win.

As a technology-based wholesale alcohol distributor, the LibDib Buyer experience is going to be put on steroids in 2021 through technology that caters to both mobile and online engagement, offering customers the most targeted and simplified shopping experience.

So what’s the plan? LibDib is going to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning into our platform. In fact, LibDib and RNDC just announced a new joint initiative to fuel insight and automation in both companies’ platforms. Customers will be delivered the most authentic and targeted online shopping experience, and new insights and algorithms will take the e-commerce experience for the wholesale Buyer to the next level.

The other initiative we are undergoing here at LibDib is to fine-tune our well-oiled operations into the fastest and most efficient team in the industry. We’ve been investing in human capital (i.e. hiring some awesome people) to build up our operations team and they are rocking-and-rolling. For our Makers, this means wine and spirits deliveries will arrive in the quickest possible time. For Buyers this means the entire experience top to bottom will be LibDib 200 proof.

Last but not least, LibDib is building out what I like to call the E-premise channel. What is E-premise? It’s an online channel that delivers three-tier compliant DTC via third party platforms, enabling Makers to conduct consumer sales and data collection directly from these third-party vendors. Orders are fulfilled through retailers, but Makers have the control of the customer’s online experience and can leverage their data for remarketing. Through E-premise, Makers can garner national distribution without being distributed nationally. Be on the lookout for the announcement of key partnerships next year in regards to our E-premise strategy!

We know 2020 has been a tough year for many— especially our restaurant, bar, hotel and venue Buyers. We hope that 2021 brings prosperity back to those who are suffering and LibDib looks forward to working with those wine and spirits Buyers when business is back to normal again.