How Benchmark Wine Group Uses Liv-ex to Source More Than $100,000 of Fine and Rare Wine Each Month
For most merchants, a bigger range means a bigger cost – more capital tied up, more suppliers, more complexity.
This case study explores how Benchmark Wine Group (BWG), one of the largest wine retailers in the United States, uses Liv-ex to access global supply, source rare wines more efficiently, and expand its offering without increasing inventory.
How do you offer customers thousands of additional wines without holding a single extra bottle?
For most merchants, a bigger range means a bigger cost – more capital tied up, more suppliers, more complexity. Benchmark Wine Group found a way around that trade-off.
The challenge: Accessing global supply without increasing inventory risk
Like many merchants in the fine wine market, BWG needed consistent access to scarce wines and the ability to act on fast-moving buying opportunities.
Founded in Napa Valley in 2002, BWG specialises in rare, hard-to-find wines for retailers, restaurants, and collectors worldwide. It had long used Liv-ex to source European wines and new releases that are difficult to obtain locally – but as demand grew, it needed to source further afield, faster and leaner, without the inventory burden that usually comes with scale.
The goal was simple: source more efficiently and widen customer choice, without significantly increasing inventory requirements.
The approach: Connecting directly to a global wine exchange
By integrating its e-commerce platform with Liv-ex, BWG connected directly to the global marketplace for the fine wine trade.
Through automation, Liv-ex provides access to more than $100 million of live buying opportunities across 20,000 different wines and spirits from trusted merchants around the world. Rather than relying solely on stock held in its own warehouses, BWG could access a much broader pool of inventory through a single connection.
Offering more wines without holding more stock
Because Liv-ex guarantees stock availability and condition, BWG can commit a wine to a customer the moment they order it from the webshop, then automatically source it only when needed. This makes it possible to list everything available on Liv-ex – from recent releases to highly sought-after collectibles – without buying and storing every bottle in advance, or tying up capital in inventory it may never need. And BWG stays in full control of what it offers, and at what price.
When buying on Liv-ex, you have guaranteed stock. We can offer more products to our clients than we have in our physical inventory. David Parker CEO – Benchmark Wine Group
Using data to act quickly
In trading fine and rare wine, the right opportunities don’t wait around.
For David Parker, technology plays a crucial role in accessing limited-production wines.
To deal in rare wine, which has limited availability, you must be highly automated and efficient to get hold of it in the first place. You must also be certain you do have it before offering it to your clients. Liv-ex helps us to do both. David Parker CEO – Benchmark Wine Group
BWG also access Liv-ex price data APIs to bring trusted market data directly into its internal systems, helping the team act quickly when opportunities arise.
Finding the product at the right price is three quarters of the job. If you find it right, you can sell right. David Parker CEO – Benchmark Wine Group
Building efficiency through standardisation
Besides automation, BWG has also matched its inventory to LWIN – the unique identifier for wine and spirits. This helps the business better understand its universe of wines, improve inventory cleanliness and consistency, and trade more efficiently across the global fine wine market.
The Result: More than $100,000 worth of wine sourced each month
Today, approximately 70-80% of BWG’s trades on Liv-ex are automated. This has enabled the business to source more wine through Liv-ex while extending the range available to customers beyond its physical stockholding.
- Access to a broader pool of global fine wine supply
- Faster, more efficient sourcing
- More than $100,000 worth of wine sourced per month through Liv-ex
I am now sourcing more than $100,000 worth of wine a month from Liv-ex, and this is growing at a rate of 20-30% per month. David Parker CEO – Benchmark Wine Group
What this means for wine merchants
Benchmark Wine Group’s experience highlights how technology is changing the way merchants source wine. By connecting directly to a global marketplace and integrating trusted market data into its internal systems, the business has increased sourcing activity while offering customers a wider range of wines without significantly increasing inventory requirements.