CatchOfTheDay sets sights on online wine space via strategic investment
Announcement posted by The Catch Group 19 Apr 2012
The investment and partnership is part of CatchOfTheDay group’s strategy of building a portfolio of sector-leading ecommerce brands across niche categories. With an established platform and engaged customer base, strong supplier network and a skilled team led by renowned digital wine entrepreneurs Andre Eikmeier and Justin Dry (better know as the ‘The Qwoff Boys’), vinomofo.com will rapidly accelerate the group’s position in the online wine space.
After successfully building three daily deal sites from scratch, Gabby Leibovich, co-founder of the CatchOfTheDay group said the need for specialised knowledge and established supplier networks within the wine sector led the company to pursue an investment strategy as the preferred method to penetrate the high growth wine, beer and spirits market.
“We wanted to shake up the wine category with something fresh and exciting and were very impressed with Vinomofo’s take on the space, with a daily deal site that brings together expert recommendations and carefully curated wine deals at amazing prices.
“Andre and Justin not only have an incredible understanding of wine and the sector, they also understand the online world and what it takes to build a successful business in this space."
Headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, Vinomofo was founded 12 months ago and has undergone rapid growth. The company currently has over 30,000 active subscribers and boasts Australia’s largest social media community of wine enthusiasts with over 25,000 Twitter followers. The site has established supply relationships with over 200 of Australia’s leading producers, ensuring a broad range of quality wines on offer at various price points.
Leibovich says the investment made sense for both businesses by delivering Vinomofo the perfect platform to take their rapidly growing business to the next level, and to CatchOfTheDay an established credible brand and management team to best represent its group in the online wine space.
“Through the deal Vinomofo can enjoy access to best in class systems as well as warehousing and logistics capabilities to support its growth, not to mention opening the door to over 2 million potential new subscribers through CatchOfTheDay’s database.”
Commenting on the deal, co-founder of Vinomofo Andre Eikmeier said: “We’re very excited to be joining forces with the Catch group. They’re the best at what they do, and there’s a good fit culturally.”
"We’ve explored several potential avenues to take the business to the next level over the past six months. However, we wanted to ensure we found a partner that could not only help us achieve our growth aspirations, but also stood for the same principles that we do – quality product, genuine value, personalised service, and a little bit of fun.
“Catch ticked all the boxes, and we got a very good feeling about the whole partnership. To say the least, we’re looking forward to working with the Catch team to grow Vinomofo into the number one online wine destination in the country.”
1 Experian Hitwise 2011
2 Telsyte Australian Online Group Buying Study 2011-15
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NOTES FOR MEDIA:
Media Enquiries: Melissa Shawyer, +61 412 066 048, Melissa@prgroup.com.au
Corporate photography available at www.catchoftheday.com.au/pressphotos.php
ABOUT CATCHOFTHEDAY
CatchOfTheDay is Australia’s number one online retailer, offering one highly discounted deal a day to customers. Founded by brothers Gabby and Hezi Leibovich in 2006, the business quickly expanded to include Australia’s best deals on services and experiences with sister site scoopon.com.au, and discounted groceries with groceryrun.com.au. In June 2011 the group received $80 million in funding from a consortium of investors comprising James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings, international investment firm Tiger Global and Andrew Basset from Seek, cementing its position as the leading ecommerce group in Australia. CatchOfTheDay and its related business are headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and employ over 300 people.
For more information visit:
www.catchoftheday.com.au
www.scoopon.com.au
www.groceryrun.com.au
ABOUT VINOMOFO
Vinomofo is brought to you by The Qwoff Boys – the wine geeks behind Australia’s first and largest online wine community qwoff.com.au. Founded in 2011, Vinomofo seeks to bring wine enthusiasts a daily dose of hand picked and personally recommended wines from some of Australia’s leading producers and the most exciting elite smaller wineries, at exceptional prices. With over 30,000 subscribers and Australia’s largest and most engaged social wine community of over of 25,000 wine enthusiasts, Vinomofo’s rapid growth caught the attention of Australia’s #1 ecommerce group CatchOfTheDay, who invested in the business in March 2012. Vinomofo is headquartered in Adelaide, South Australia, and distributes nationally.
For more information visit:
www.vinomofo.com