Sip Champagnes

Idea

Introduction

The Champagne market is fragmented with thousands of growers unable to access consumers, and consumers unaware of the wider market. Sip's discovery journey bridges this gap through its curated subscriptions and cases.

Demand for organic produce is rising, with research by the organic wine industry finding that UK consumers are willing to spend up to 38% more for organic wine.

Champagne lags behind this trend, with artisan, grower Champagne, made from start to finish by the same farmer, accounting for just 1.2% of sales by volume in the UK, with a clutch of big brands still dominating the market.

Disenchanted with most small-scale producers having little outlet for the pure expression of their own vineyard, we established Sip Champagnes and set about levelling the playing field.

Through long-standing relationships with Champagne producers, we have established trust unequalled in the market. We currently work with 34 producers and stock over 80 bottles of unique, grower Champagne.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Launching our business in 2020 threw up significant challenges. Despite the unprecedented difficulties we have faced in light of COVID we have achieved significant success within our first six months.

- Grew sales by 301% in the 6 months between our launch in July and December 2020

- Expanded our Champagne subscribers by 600% to 42 subscribers since September.

- Featured in numerous publications including The Independent, Luxury Lifestyle Magazine and The Financial Times' ‘How To Spend It’ magazine

- Expanded globally to fulfill orders across Europe, the USA and China

- Cultivated a loyal following with 27.37% of our clients having ordered again

Monetisation strategy

Customer base growth

Drive newsletter sign-ups and curated case purchases with exclusive offers and rich content via email and social media channels. Coupled with our long-term PPC and SEO strategies to drive further organic traffic.

Customer retention

Grow trust and continue to affirm expertise with engaging content that encourages customers to purchase subscription plans. This offers the customer the best value Champagne and education, and Sip, the most reliable revenue stream.

US and East Asian Expansion

The US has, just last year, become the largest single market for Champagne (outside of France) by value, in the world. We have made in-roads into both the US and East Asian markets and have further expansion plans in development.

Product Diversification & Sip Branded Products

Develop range of co-branded Sip Champagnes that are committed to the very best practices. We will also diversify our portfolio to encompass additional artisan sparkling products and Sip branded merchandise.

Use of proceeds

Our funding target of £150k will be used to grow Sip Champagnes into the go-to brand for artisan Champagne. We intend to divide the capital across the following areas:

Stock purchases - 33%

Our initial US and Chinese customers have shown the value of these countries if we were to more cost-effectively fulfil orders locally. Purchasing stock in larger quantities to enable swift fulfilment within targeted territories will increase our growth.

People - 22%

With a priority on purchasing, operations and marketing, an operations/buying assistant based in France will streamline our stock management and fulfilment.

Marketing - 36%

Enable us to maket to more customers in targetted countries.

Overall Expansion - 7%

Logistics of importing into new territories to reduce overarching operational costs in the longer term.

Storage, Logistics & Samples - 2%

To enable us to expand and ship more efficiently, having bonded warehouses in strategic countries will increase our conversion rates.