BBR to introduce broking exchange

Berry Bros & Rudd is preparing to launch the Berry’s Broking Exchange next month.

The exchange will allow Berry Bros’ customers, who have un-split cases stored in bond in one of the merchant’s facilities, to sell their wine via the Berry Bros website.

Any stock that is duty paid or en primeur will not be viable for sale by the exchange. Everything must be physical and stored in bond by the famous London wine merchant.

Berry Bros will take a 10% commission on all sales but it is the customers who will set the prices for each case.

Charlie Bennett, e-commerce and marketing development manager at Berry Bros, told the drinks business: “We’re not putting any restrictions on price but are supplying an evaluation service which uses Liv-ex and Wine-Searcher data to assist people in setting up a realistic and achievable selling price.”

He went on to say that the idea was first mooted when the recession was biting deeper and the company was looking for a way to drive business.

“It was viewed as a way we could sell wine without having to sit on stock.

“If you can find a way for customers to release wine onto the market there’s a way of building business on the back of that.”

But despite giving a remarkably free reign to its customers, Bennett made it clear that Berry Bros would be enforcing at least some kind of quality control.

“We won’t accept wines into storage that we don’t believe are in a condition good enough for resale,” he said.

The Broking Exchange will launch on 9 August.

Rupert Millar, 15.07.2010