How to build loyalty among wine lovers via a box and digital? [Interview LePetitBallon.com]

lepetitballon_ohannassian_interview-raja the “box” has been one of the models that has broken through in recent years – MyLittleParis being the best known French success story. We continue our tour of digital developments in the alcohol sector and take a look at this model applied to the wine-loving community. Already mentioned by Olivier Thibert (founder of GOOT) in a previous interview, we met with Martin Ohannessian, founder of the site LePetitBallon.com

Hello Martin, can you explain how LePetitBallon.com was born?

well, it’s quite simple and I think the situation will speak to a lot of people. I was coming up to my 30s and didn’t know a Bordeaux from a Burgundy. I took oenology classes, read books on wine and found it expensive and boring.

At the same time the box phenomenon was exploding in the US, especially in the food world. And that gave me the idea of creating the wine box!

But Le Petit Ballon couldn’t start without an expert. So I met a lot of sommeliers, oenologists and Jean-Michel Deluc fut LA personne que j’attendais. C’est un sommelier qui a toujours aimé innover et quand il parle du vin il nous emporte et nous donne envie d’en savoir encore plus. Après avoir servi les tables du Drouan, Fouquet’s et Ritz il souhaitait repartir dénicher des pépites rares et méconnues pour le plus grand nombre.

LePetitBallon_Deluc-sommelier-1

L’offre a-t-elle évolué depuis la création de l’entreprise ?

Non, l’offre est restée la même. Nous proposons deux formules d’abonnement : L’Âge de Raisin à 19,90€/mois ou 39,90€/mois qui est plus pour les connaisseurs. On peut offrir 3, 6,12 mois d’abonnement ou alors s’abonner en prélèvement mensuel.

Depuis plus d’un an nous développons notre boutique en ligne pour retrouver les vins sélectionnés et permettre aux non abonné d’acheter à leurs tours les coups de cœur de notre sommelier

lePetitBallon.com in a few figures is…?

40,000 subscribers in 2016
5 million turnover in 2015
10 million turnover forecast in 2016
700,000 bottles sent in 2016
25 employees

unavoidable question at RAJA, what role does packaging play in your model?

Packaging is a key element in our business. It is what delivers our selection service and our products to our subscribers. Reliable packaging allows us to deliver to more than 40,000 people each month. Packaging for wine is even more complicated to model because the bottles break, leak and weigh a certain amount Reliable packaging is therefore neededwe have to be sure that at the end of the chain we have happy customers who want to continue the adventure! lepetitballon_coffret-2-bouteilles_RAJA

How do you see (alcohol) consumption trends evolving

In France, wine is undoubtedly seductive. People are drinking less but better. They are more interested in what they are tasting and take real care in choosing the wines they are going to open.

Table wine is a long way off. Young people are interested in wine and are very curious. They rely heavily on their peers, families and friends and want to be guided before buying. [Note: the premium trend is global to the alcohol sector ] read the interview with Olivier Thibert, CEO of GOOT

and how do you see alcohol e-commerce evolving in the next few years?

Purchasing on the internet is still timid compared to other ways of buying wine, 13% vs. 78% in supermarkets (Baromètre Sowine/SSI 2016).

The potential is real for all online wine players because the proportion of wine purchases on the internet is growing every year.The web gives new keys to sell wine: much more transparency on the product (grape varieties, services, food and wine pairing), humanises the bottle because we talk much more about the producers and above all offers a variety of diverse content that allows the consumer to be enlightened.