Astute investors and wine lovers are enjoying their investments grow with time and we’re not just talking about dollars. Thanks to WINEWORLD XPLORER Hong Kong’s smart investors have re-discovered a growing world of potential returns on investment (ROI).
Since 2017, WineWorld Xplorer (WWX) has evolved into a global wine trading and asset management platform with a vision to promote wine as an asset to be enjoyed.
With Hong Kong being a regional wine hub and a global financial center, WWX is privileged to enjoy zero wine tax and also economic benefits to be close proximity to mainland market.
Speaking to founder, Mariana Lam, we learn the platform comes with comprehensive functions enabling wine drinkers to not only source and trade wines internationally, but also better manage their wine portfolios based on accurate portfolio valuations, resell and investment recommendations.
Through WWX, the whole fine wine experience is enhanced into one that position wine as both a liquid pleasure and a liquid asset. WWX’s global connection provides wine merchants with unprecedented ease of access to the growing wine market of Asia.
Mariana Lam, founder of WineWorld Xplorer: “WWX aims to promote a rational, properly governed assetization of wines in both Hong Kong
(as a relatively mature wine market) and China.”
Rapid Growth
The company has an interesting history—a growth pattern that’s worth admiring. The founding WineWorld team started in 2008. Since then, the team has curated a comprehensive and competitively priced wine portfolio for Hong Kong and China’s a growing community of wine traders and drinkers. Today, WineWorld is the trusted source of wines for more than 20,000 wine collectors, aficionados and on-trade partners.
In 2017, WWX was launched—a platform to connect three established international wine trading hubs: UK, France and Hong Kong.
By 2018 Q1, WWX has aggregated a total listing of HK$900 million worth of wine stock. The following quarter saw the company launch a wine provenance smart tracking solution—Vinoguard. By end of 2018, WWX was not only a one-stop international wine trading solution; but also a multi-location wine storage and portfolio management tool for all users.
Thought-Leading Service
“The global secondary market for fine wines is estimated at around US$5 billion,” says Mariana Lam, founder. “This 2% of the total value of global wine market enamours the most elite wine drinkers. This particular market has seen a boom in number of Asia-based traders and brokers, especially in Hong Kong given the relative ease of business setup, in the last 10 years since the Asian wine boom made its remarkable stride.”
According to Lam, today Asia’s fine wine industry is at a crunch point where brokers and traders who are to succeed and survive must find a way to minimize procurement costs and efforts to stay competitive.
“At the same time,” she says, “technology advancements also mean that end consumers enjoy a much higher level of price transparency than before. Wealth accumulation in Asia has also contributed to rise of interest in wine as an alternative investment vehicle among high-net-worth individuals. WWX sees the need of a platform operator to serve different customers including:
Professional wine traders: They need a platform that aggregate offers of different wines from both local and international industry players with real-time price and stock level information to expedite sourcing.
Private client / end consumers: They need a full-circle trading experience with professional after-sales and resell support.
HNW individual wine investors: They are looking for more transparent, holistic and accessible wine investment solutions (beyond traditional fund models and high-cost wine consultant personal advisory services).”
“WWX’s Ultimate Goal Is To Enhance Overall Liquidity Of Our Users’ Wine Assets – Making Wine Not Only A Liquid Pleasure; But A Liquid Asset For Them.” – Mariana Lam
Creative Solutions
“WWX’s ultimate goal is to enhance overall liquidity of our users’ wine assets – making wine not only a liquid pleasure; but a liquid asset for them. WWX is set up to address the needs of both trade and private client consumers by creating an ecosystem conducive towards an exponential increase in fine wine trading volume. The core of this ecosystem lies in the establishment of a seamless multi-market, multi-currency mechanism that essentially minimizes need of currency conversion when executing trade.”
WWX ADVANTAGES:
Global Access and Convenience: All users enjoy 24-7 access to accurate fine wine price and provenance information.
Asia-based Presence and Support: A HK-based local team of wine professionals provide our clients with personalized support when they choose not to trade autonomously.
All-rounded portfolio management solution: The platform’s multi-location storage plans and international shipping solutions are all competitively priced. WWX comprehensive portfolio management tools offer FREE real-time valuation access to all users.
One of the most competitive wine resell commission: WWX allows private collectors to resell their stock on the platform at one of the best commissions: 4.5% of the transacted value. The average industry commission rate is at 10%.
Building Assets
Lam reveals, “WWX’s vision in the near future is to enrich our existing wine trading and portfolio management modules with more sophisticated graphing and trend visualization capabilities.
“We are now increasingly our focus on utilizing big data analysis to study fine wine price movement and trends to enhance overall accuracy of wine portfolio graphing capabilities.
“WWX aims to promote a rational, properly governed assetization of wines in both Hong Kong (as a relatively mature wine market) and China, specifically Greater Bay Area (as a fast growing wine market),” Lam concludes.
For additional information, please visit www.wwxplorer.com
Hong Kong’s Business Leaders share market and interest intelligence in the pages of HKMVC 2020
