From screen to store: Why wine rating app Vivino decided to enter the bricks-and-mortar space

Breaking into any tight-knit, expertise-driven industry is not easy. However, global wine rating app Vivino managed to do so by embraced an outsider’s perspective. 

Founded by Danish entrepreneur Heini Zachariassen in 2010, Vivino helps users choose quality wines based on crowdsourced ratings worldwide. Today, Vivino, which is also an online wine marketplace, boasts over 14 million monthly active users globally. “We are outsiders who came in and said we want wine to be for the people,” he says.

Fresh off selling his cybersecurity company BullGuard in 2008, Zachariassen found a new problem to solve when he walked into a supermarket. “I see this wall of wine — how do I find the right one? That's why we built the app,” he explains. Vivino’s success hinges on a deep understanding of casual drinkers and helps them choose quality wines based on user-generated ratings.

Zachariassen shared this insight when he was in town recently for the opening of the first Vivino’s physical store in the world, which opened in September.

Scan and buy

Expanding into the bricks-and-mortar space for a tech software data company can be a stretch. After all, profit margins are usually higher online than offline, especially with Singapore’s eye-watering high rental rates and labour costs. 

However, Zachariassen sees the potential of having a physical shop. He estimates that half of Vivino users use the app in supermarkets, while the other half scan their bottles when drinking at home or with friends.

“The conversion from using the app to buying wine online might actually be harder than using the app and walking to the store,” he shares. Vivino users tend to scan the labels of wine bottles on hand before making a purchasing decision. Furthermore, most wines sold globally are still through offline retail channels.

The store in Raffles City is a collaboration between Vivino, a homegrown wine importer, and a distributor of Wine Portal. Vivino shares data from over 70,000 Vivino users in Singapore with Wine Portal, which includes popular wine styles and price points of the wines scanned.

Based on the information, Wine Portal curates a list of about 100 labels for the store, updated weekly. Most of the wines from France, Italy, Spain, and the United States are rated four (out of a maximum of five points). 

In-store features include a Vivino Recommends kiosk, where shoppers get personalised wine recommendations based on their drinking preferences. Wines are also available by the glass at the bar, and monthly Vivino Tasting Club wine sessions are held in-store.

It is no secret that the wine industry trusts the ratings of wine critics, including Jancis Robinson or Tim Atkin more than ratings on Vivino. After all, these acclaimed wine critics have spent decades honing their wine knowledge and tasting skills. 

While connoisseurs may question crowd-sourced ratings, Zachariassen shares that Vivino’s ratings strongly correlate with Robert Parker and Wine Spectator's ratings. The 2009 Château Pontet-Canet holds a 4.6-star rating on Vivino, which aligns with its 100-point score from Robert Parker Wine Advocate and 96-point rating from Wine Spectator. 

As any business owner can attest, letting go of a business is akin to parting with your child. In late 2021, Zachariassen appointed Olivier Grémillon as CEO to run the company to help accelerate its growth.

However, Zachariassen, the company’s chairman, still has the influence to steer the company in the right direction, including the decision to open its first physical store in Singapore. 

Moving forward, Zachariassen is open to having more stores in Singapore or launching in other countries. Coupled with the expansion plans on the horizon, Vivino recently rolled out Places, a new feature on the app that allows users to view the locations where other users have scanned wines based on pins on an interactive map.