Popular wine merchant teams up with disruptive brand builder to merge online retailer CyberCellar into Publik group.
Publik has taken over the reins of online retailer CyberCellar, having signed an agreement with current owner and disruptive brand builder, Silvertree. The recently announced deal will see investment from Silvertree into the new consolidated Publik wine business, providing growth capital for the distribution, wine bar and retail operations, as well as access to Silvertree resources.
The deal will allow Publik to bring their fresh approach to CyberCellar, South Africa’s longest running ecommerce site and a leading online wine retailer with a strong database of active customers. The consolidated business will aim for significant growth in online retail, a marketplace worth more than R14-billion in South Africa and growing at more than 25% annually.
“This deal is beneficial in many ways,” says David Cope from Publik, “The most obvious being how we can bring new energy to the CyberCellar brand, provide a more curated offering to their customer base and build awareness for the quality artisan producers that are making waves in the South African wine industry.”
Silvertree Co-MD Peter Allerstorfer shared this sentiment saying, “This is a great opportunity for two strong brands with different retail channels in the wine industry to come together, realise synergies and leverage off each others’ strengths and expertise, with support from Silvertree.”
While online accounts for less than 2% of retail in South Africa (compared to over 19% in global powerhouse China), local growth is expected to increase rapidly as internet and particularly smartphone penetration increases amongst the South African population.
Launched in 1998, CyberCellar.com will continue to sell the top South African wine brands as part of a more focused selection that will provide added exposure for smaller independent producers, a collective Publik has championed since opening their Cape Town wine bar in 2013.
Publik has since evolved to include a national distribution operation that works with a portfolio of independent producers, though they’ve retained their unpretentious approach to wine, as seen at their wine bars in Cape Town and Johannesburg as well as regular tasting events.
Silvertree brings in new operational resources and ecommerce expertise to the Publik business. As a disruptive brand builder, their commitment to entrepreneurial ventures in South Africa has seen success in strong consumer brands like UCOOK and Faithful to Nature, amongst others.
“The fact that we’re growing and evolving is testament to the quality of the local producers in South Africa,” adds Cope, “But also to the growing interest in wine. At the end of the day we’re still doing the same thing we’ve done since day one at Publik: getting people to support some of the most exciting wine producers in the world. We’re just finding more ways to do this.”
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