Believe it or not, even amidst the obvious popularity of the trendy online market, buying wine online still remains to be something that leaves a lot of consumers surprised. Even with the huge number of online wine shops registered in the World Wide Web nowadays, there is still a population of wine lovers and regular buyers in wine shops and superstores that have not ever tried to buy wine online and were not lucky enough to savour the convenience it offers.
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied how buying wine online is now a reality. In Singapore alone, it depicts already over 10 per cent of the business-to-consumer market which equates to more than 2,000 million dollars. And the sales rate has been continuing to rise year by year by more than 10% despite the fact that there are still a lot of areas in the country whose residents have failed to try and appreciate the advantages and convenience of shopping wine online made possible by Singapore’s different groups of wine suppliers. 
Since it is certain how everyone has their own wine preferences and these wines are not accessible all the time at the nearest wine cellars, Singapore wine suppliers have joined the bandwagon in selling wine online, expanding the wine market to make taking-the-most-advantage-of-the-internet possible. One can now buy wines online from (and alongside physical) wineries and stores, entitling him to enjoy the convenience, time-saving, hassle-free, and easy wine shopping experience. With online wine ordering, people will not simply get a headache like they would as if they were standing in the aisle along the wine section at the grocery store, scanning across hundreds of wine bottles that may not taste as elegant and pretty as they look. Moreover, the security and safety in buying wine online are highly guaranteed, hence wine lovers will no more need to worry about getting their information or wine belongings compromised.
Enjoying the best value of convenience…
There is no questioning how buying wine online is a convenient alternative for wine lovers who buy their favourite wine varieties every now and then. The wines get delivered straight to the consumers’ doorsteps and there are even online wine shops nowadays that do shipments with no additional cost for a reliable wine delivery on the same day or the next working day or two.
However, while convenience has always been flaunted not just at online wine shopping but at online shopping of all goodies, it does not guarantee to provide the best wine buying experience for the consumers unless the latter have sufficient background in deciding which wine varieties to buy. Because unless and until buyers are able to distinguish which wines are the best, they are unlikely going to enjoy the best value of such convenience.
As for the wine buyers, there are a few key elements when coming up with a decision to purchase a wine online. These are:
- Complete information about the wine
- Price and price over quality ratio
- Brand of the wine
- Recommendation
- Design/Packaging
- Ingredients as well as the processes being carried out
- Appellation
As of the moment, there are already several online wine cellars in Singapore doing an amazing job, such as www75cl.sg, www.wine-family.com, www.winesonline.com.sg, www.straitswine.com, and www.ewineasiacom. Almost all of them were able to prove through time their quality as a service and their advantage as a sales channel in Singapore.
There may be possible disadvantages of the internet like how online wine cellars are not able to offer wine-tasting perks but if we come to think of it, supermarkets and physical wine shops do not always offer such perks wine delivery. Hence, there is really nothing much to miss out. At the end of the day, each sales area has its advantages. The only important thing is to spread and expand the wine market.
Conrad Armer 
Raymond Bilger 
Clare Louise