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Digital Wine Ventures’ (ASX:DW8) WINEDEPOT rolls out temperature-controlled depot network

Consumer Discretionary
ASX:DW8
16 September 2020 11:00 (AEST)
DW8 (ASX:DW8) - CEO, Dean Taylor

Source: The Market Herald

Digital Wine Ventures’ (DW8) WINEDEPOT has expanded its partnership with Border Express to roll out a national network of temperature-controlled depots.

The temperature-controlled depots will be progressively rolled out across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth over the next six months.

Specifically, Border Express will provide the WINEDEPOT business with storage, logistics, freight and 3PL services to support the depot network. The agreement has an initial term of two years.

Company CEO, Dean Taylor, is the founder of Wine Ark, which is Australia’s largest climate-controlled wine storage business for private collectors.

“When I launched Wine Ark in 1999, very few people realised the devastating impact that high and variable temperatures could have on wine. Almost singlehandedly we managed to educate private collectors as to how wine should be stored and set the benchmarks for that industry,” Dean said.

According to the CEO, few wine distributors or 3PL providers utilise temperature control in their warehouses which can reach up to, or over, 40 degrees in summer at ground level and over 50 degrees at higher levels.

“I am confident that our move will be greatly appreciated by not only wine producers using our service but also consumers alike, when they receive a delivery from WINEDEPOT.”

CEO, Dean Taylor

WINEDEPOT’s Chief Operating Officer, Steven Alexander, is overseeing the roll-out of the depot network and considers it to be highly beneficial on all fronts.

The deal means WINEDEPOT will no longer have to solely rely on Australia Post to complete both trade and consumer deliveries.

“It also allows us to scale our platform more rapidly and de-risks our operation considerably. Introducing competition across the fleet also allows us to put pressure on improving service levels and costs,” Steven said.

Furthermore, temperature-controlling the depots benefits customers, reduces business costs and helps the company build a larger moat against potential competitors.

Company shares are up 6.9 per cent and are trading for 6.2 cents at 10:51 am AEST.

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