Bartering for wine online launches in New Zealand

7 April 2009

Bartering for wine online launches in New Zealand

Business-to-business trade exchange company, BBX is launching its popular Vines Online service in New Zealand. It’s a service that offers its members the opportunity to barter for wine through a special section of their website.

According to BBX’s Vines Online coordinator Mr Michael Munn it’s a great way for wineries to sell excellent wines and some surplus stock and a great way for BBX members to pick up a bargain.

“It has been hugely successful in Australia with over 41 vineyards involved and in 2008 we sold over two million BBX dollars of wine in Australia via the site. All our members can purchase wine by the case from Vines Online but we find that it’s often restaurants and event companies buying it on a regular basis,” said Munn.

“New Zealand like Australia has a huge wine industry but from time to time there is an over supply and a trade exchange is a great way to shift it,” she added.

Australian winery Mount Vincent Estate in the Lower Hunter Valley has been a member of BBX for a number of years and over a year ago began selling its wines through Vines Online. Managing Director Paul Hindmarch says that there are a number of benefits to his company.

“BBX provides us with the opportunity to expand our distribution into other states where we do not have a presence and gives us the opportunity to clear bin end stocks.

“The BBX dollars that we earn from selling our wine is spent on items like printing, mailing houses and promotional items. It’s great for our cash-flow and gives us the opportunity to promote our product and private wine club 1300shiraz.com.au at the same time,” added Hindmarch.

BBX is a membership based trading program whose primary role is to generate new opportunities for all types of businesses and to show business owners how to offset many current cash expenses by utilising the down time and idle inventory in their business.

In addition to business-to-business trading, BBX also offers members a range of value added services to further utilise their BBX income. These include BBX Insurance, BBX Money, BBX Real Estate, BBX Financial Advisors, and the BBX Property Investment Fund.

The trade exchange uses BBX dollars, a currency unit having equivalent value to Australian currency, to assign value to the transactions that take place between member businesses. In essence, the exchange acts as the third party record keeper, similar to a bank, and provides a sophisticated market where thousands of transactions take place on a cashless basis.

BBX Holdings Limited listed on the ASX in August 2005, becoming the only exchange in the world to be publicly listed on a main board.

BBX has offices throughout New Zealand and Australia through a master franchise. Through their BBX accounts, member businesses in these countries traded in excess of $192 million in the financial year ending 30 June 2008, averaging over $33,000 per member.

BBX has recently expanded to Costa Rica, India and China through master franchise arrangements and further international expansion is being pursued.

ends

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