Remember that time you stepped inside a real brick-and-mortar wine store and chose a bottle of vino? Chances are, it’s been a while. With a plethora of alcohol delivery startups bringing booze right to our doorsteps, there’s little reason to spend time perusing wine store aisles anymore.
However, as seamless as these delivery apps tend to be – there’s something to be said for the in-store experience.
“I’m a firm believer in the brick-and-mortar experience,” Emily Wang, founder of Vinobly, a newly launched retail-oriented wine discovery app, explains to me over a glass of white wine. “I just want to lead the way in moving the in-store experience to the 21st century.”
Which is exactly what this wine enthusiast and Harvard Business School graduate aims to do. Wang, a California native, believes that her Vinobly mobile app will help fellow vino lovers discover wines they actually like while in the store.
“I tried finding an app that would recommend wines while standing in a store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s,” Wang tells me. “I don’t always want help from someone on the staff, nor do I want to spend 10 minutes scanning a bunch of labels. When I realized that product didn’t exist, I embarked on the path of building it.”
Dubbed “the Pandora for wine," Vinobly, which launched out of beta today, September 18, makes personalized wine recommendations to customers based on their preferences and a nearby shop’s in-store inventory.
“The entire goal is to help a wine-curious shopper find new wines they’d enjoy, and help them actually buy it from the store they’re in,” Wang explains. “We try to make the visual experience really engaging and fun as well.”
Here's how it works: In just four easy steps, Vinobly can help in-store customers pick the right bottle of wine in less than 60 seconds. First, the user answers whether or not they’re pairing the wine with a meal. Then, more specifically, what the user is eating. Third, Vinobly asks a simple palette profile question – how the user drinks their coffee or tea. In a matter of seconds, the app searches through available wines at a specific wine store near them and recommends a specific brand and type of wine for the user.
The app also mirrors the look of the local wine store and will show them where, specifically, to find the recommended wine bottle in the store.
To create the app, Wang, who helped run the Wine & Cuisine Society while attending Harvard Business School, spoke with sommeliers and wine industry professionals to develop questions used to assess a consumer’s palette. She then converted that into an algorithm in order to make personalized wine recommendations for individuals.
And as far as wine preferences go, Wang stresses that she also wants to empower people to “own what they like.” She adds, “It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day what a wine critic thinks – as a consumer, you should feel confident in buying and drinking what you enjoy, and if we can help you find more things you’d like, then that’s a win for everyone!”
Thus far, Vinobly has partnered with several Boston-area wine and liquor stores and plans to add more stores to the mix over time. Currently, Vinobly wine recommendations are available in Cambridge Spirits (Kendall Square), Trader Joe’s (Memorial Drive location), Whole Foods (River Street location), University Wines in Cambridge, and Marty’s in Newton, Mass.
“The entire experience is oriented around specific stores ... if you’re open and curious, and are in a store, then we’re perfect for you,” she adds.
The Vinobly app is available now in the iOS App Store and the Google Play store. Those who share a photo with their wine tonight through this weekend, using the hashtags #thirstythursday #vinoblylaunch or tagging them @vinobly on Facebook and Instagram will be entered to win a set of Vinobly stemless wine glasses as well.
Images courtesy of Vinobly
