Liv-ex records ‘revolutionary’ first electronic trade

A case of 2013 Larcis-Ducasse has become the first wine to be sold through Liv-ex’s Exchange Integration system.

The trade happened this week when a buyer in New York saw the wine on the website of a Liv-ex member and bought it.

Speaking to the drinks business, Liv-ex director James Miles said the act, while seemingly innocuous, was in fact “all quite revolutionary for the wine trade”.

The purpose of the Exchange integration system is to create a fully automated, streamlined structure whereby Liv-ex’s members and their clients can see and interact with exchange in real time.

Before, the buyer in question wanting a case of Larcis-Ducasse would have had to register their interest and then the member would have had to contact Liv-ex to ensure the case was still available.

With integration the whole process is sped up considerably as everything is measured in real time, and consumers now have access to over £15 million (US$21.7m) worth of stock listed on the exchange.

“It’s rather a nice bit of connectivity,” continued Miles. “It literally connects up every consumer and wholesaler in the world, puts everyone directly in touch with each other.

“It means someone in Sweden can offer a wine and someone in Tokyo goes onto their merchant’s website and buys it.”

The system is all part of Liv-ex’s broader “vision” to bring more integrated, automated systems to fine wine trading and buying.

The ‘LWIN’ innovation is yet another example of this.