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Q&A: Professor Gordy Pleyers, Université Catholique de Louvain

Published:  05 January, 2021

Taking drinks design into the realm of neuro-marketing and science, Professor Gordy Pleyers of Mind Insights at Université Catholique de Louvain introduces Andrew Catchpole to the non-conscious cues at play in our taste for wines and spirits

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Long Read: A virtual Christmas will pave the course for 2021

Published:  17 December, 2020

While big parties and large gatherings may be off the menu, premium drinks sales are still expected to grow this Christmas thanks to the rise and rise of online channels.

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Q&A: Santiago Navarro, CEO and co-founder, Garçon Wines

Published:  02 December, 2020

Harpers has something of a packaging focus in this month’s issue, due to be published this Friday 4 December. As a preview, we caught up with Santiago Navarro, the creative force behind flat bottle innovator, Garçon Wines. Made from 100% recycled plastic, this innovative new format scored a major partnership with Accolades Wines this year, which will see a number of the company’s brands launch with the flat bottle format. Starting with the installation of a ‘flat’ bottling line at the company’s Bristol manufacturing base – the first of its kind in the UK – the company is now looking ahead to its imminent UK supermarket debut with the re-launch of Accolade’s eco brand, Banrock Station, in the Co-op. We spoke to Navarro about his ambition to re-shape the wine aisle.

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AI robot project launches to support UK wine industry

Published:  06 August, 2020

A consortium formed to develop robotics for the UK's viticulture sector to assist in the identification of disease, precision pesticide treatments, and to support pruning and picking, has unveiled its first project. 

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On-trade digitisation, premiumisation and personalisation are major trends

Published:  29 June, 2020

A digitised on-trade, premium in home drinking experiences and ‘liquid personalisation’ have been identified as the key trends for the year ahead by research and analyst company Rewrite Digital.

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AI proving ‘most exciting catalyser’ of wine innovation

Published:  18 June, 2020

The advance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software is by far the most exciting catalyser of innovation in the wine industry, according to speakers at an Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) webinar held yesterday (17 June).

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In spitting distance of Covid-19

Published:  15 June, 2020

At the onset of the ongoing global pandemic, traditional on-trade channels saw sales fall to zero overnight. But what about the wider drinks trade and the interactions within it? Jo Gilbert asks if it's time to reassess tried – and maybe tired – formulas?

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‘Diversity and flexibility’ may replace specialism longer term

Published:  28 May, 2020

Such has been the upheaval wrought by the Covid pandemic that drinks businesses may have to remain agile in the longer term to meet a changed consumer landscape, with the days of specialism in one route or approach to market numbered.

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Joe Fattorini: Branching out with bright ideas

Published:  26 May, 2020

Have you been on more video-conferencing calls than usual? Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, even venerable Skype – all seem to have found their moment. We can understand why now, but why not before? The marketer Rory Sutherland once suggested video conferencing never took off because it was “the poor man’s business travel”, not “the rich man’s phone call”. But lockdown life forces us to reframe our view of video conferencing. Today it’s everyone’s business travel. Today everyone sees its value.

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Q&A: Rowena Curlewis, CEO & co-founder, Denomination

Published:  21 May, 2020

Designer Rowena Curlewis talks trends and packaging design in a post-pandemic world. Andrew Catchpole tunes in.

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Change of pace: How Covid/climate pressures are accelerating innovation of packaging and design

Published:  20 May, 2020

With drinks fast evolving to meet consumer trends, design and packaging has an ever more important role in communicating change, writes Andrew Catchpole

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The B2C shift: Driving it home

Published:  24 April, 2020

The coronavirus (Covid-19) has opened up a new world of B2C engagement for businesses offering a lifeline to consumers stuck inside their homes, as Jo Gilbert reports. 

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Vivino to launch new personal match rating

Published:  17 February, 2020

Vivino is due to launch a major new feature to its wine-rating app which will usher in a new phase of ‘personalisation’ to its business model, Harpers can reveal.

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Smartphones boost consumer interest in wine while ‘knowledge’ slides

Published:  20 January, 2020

The world’s wine drinkers are quickly becoming a population of confident connoisseurs thanks to widespread access to the internet and the ubiquity of smartphones. But are they any more knowledgeable offline?

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Digital frontiers

Published:  30 October, 2019

Excel spreadsheets and WhatsApping account reps should be a thing of the past, say the brains behind OnStock, a new online ordering platform for the UK bar trade from the Vanquish and 31Dover team, as Jo Gilbert reports. 

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UK is the world’s third largest ecommerce market for alcohol – but can you name one and two?

Published:  17 October, 2019

The UK has been identified as one of the top countries in the world for sales of alcohol online, with a surprising outcome for the first and second spot.

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Millennials vital to health of the wine sector over next five years, says new research

Published:  15 October, 2019

A new definitive report into the drinking behaviours of millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) has put to bed concerns that younger drinkers are completely abandoning wine in favour of craft beers or spirits – or even eschewing alcohol completely.

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Tech: Bringing AI to independents

Published:  02 October, 2019

How can smaller stores compete with the sprawling technology departments and deep machine learning capabilities of giants such as Amazon and Walmart? NextOrbit’s small business networks might provide an answer, writes Jo Gilbert

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Technology: the inside track

Published:  31 July, 2019

Temperature-control technology is helping wines to arrive at their destinations with their quality – and reputations – intact, as Jo Gilbert reports.

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In store rationalisation means consumers are seeking out diversity online

Published:  06 June, 2019

Wine is the most frequently purchased alcoholic beverage online, it has been revealed, as consumers increasingly turn to the web to seek out the product diversity that’s been lost from the high street.

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