Young Charly, the Belgian wine and spirits merchant, has an ambitious new project: with its Likor webshop, the company wants to become the largest online liquor store in Europe.
By taste or dish
Young Charly, a wine and spirits merchant from Antwerp, is going online with its Likor.be webshop. Customers will find more than 3,000 different kinds of liquor from 390 wineries and distilleries, William Mortelmans, manager, told the regional newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen. Although the company specialises in the import and export of wines, with the family-owned Château Fougueyrat, the webshop also offers spirits such as gin and sake.
The webshop offers search filters based on country, grape, flavour and dish. According to the company, consumers nowadays are looking for a specific flavour or something to accompany a specific dish, rather than a country or region.
An extra kick
“The store in Antwerp was doing well but could use an extra kick. With the webshop, growth is guaranteed,” is the reasoning. Indeed, a plan for that growth has already been devised: the website will be launched in Dutch, followed by a French version for Wallonia, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Within three years, an English version should follow. The ultimate goal: “to be the largest online retailer in Europe”.
In time, this must also translate into additional physical outlets, allowing for all kinds of “inline” hybrid forms, such as ordering online and collecting in the store.
