A premium, pan-European wine & spirits e-commerce platform is in the works following a 50-50 joint venture between Campari Group and LVMH’s Moët Hennessy. Campari will contribute its 49% stake in online retailer Tannico to the venture.
With online sales of wines and spirits seeing significant growth as a result of the global pandemic, Italy’s Campari Group and France’s Moët Hennessy have formed a joint venture aimed at creating a premium European e-commerce player for the category.
Campari will contribute its 49% stake in wine & spirits e-commerce company Tannico to the JV. Subject to regulatory approval, Moët Hennessy will pay Campari a cash consideration of €25.6m for 50% of the JV’s equity capital.
With its catalog spanning more than 15,000 labels from 2,500 wineries, and the world's largest selection of Italian wines, Tannico controls around a 30% share of the European online market for wines and premium spirits. Some 90% of its business is in B2C. Tannico also holds a majority stake in French online wines and spirits retailer Ventealapropriete.com. Together, the two companies generated sales of over €70m in 2020.
"This partnership represents a significant step forward in our global e-commerce development strategy. While e-commerce was already a growing channel for wines and spirits, the global pandemic has triggered a significant acceleration," Philippe Schaus, President & CEO, Moët Hennessy, said in a statement.
Marco Magnocavallo, CEO of Tannico, will head up the new business, which is set to see further investments. "With the joint backing of Moët Hennessy and Campari, Tannico will have the firepower to consolidate the fragmented European e-commerce sector and offer a qualitative, sizeable and integrated route to market option catering to the needs of all its wines and spirits suppliers," he commented.
See the upcoming issue of our sister publication Formes de Luxe for an interview with Campari RARE Division Managing Director Julka Villa.
