Piece of the auction

A NEW online retailer is selling premium wines at half price, but the bargains might not last after its marketing campaign starts.

KATHY Hanlon's father always told her you can't go broke buying a bargain. She has put the theory to the test in the past two weeks, picking up six cases of quality wine for half price from a new online retailer with a novel auction system.

“A friend of mine told me about it and I must admit to going on it every day for the first week,” she says.

Hanlon, a health club manager who describes herself as more shopaholic than alcoholic, was quick to point out that she wasn’t buying only for herself, and that the six cases were being stocked for Christmas.

The website, which opened three weeks ago, is called Cracka. Its system is to place boxes of wine up for auction at 1pm daily, starting at retail price. The price steadily drops until all the bottles are sold.

Cracka CEO Dean Taylor says people enjoy the reverse system more. "The product goes from fully priced to 50 per cent off in 10 or 20 or minutes,” he says. “It’s unlike most auctions, where there’s only one case of wine and there can be only one winner. This way, there can be as many winners as there are cases.

"You’ve got much more of a chance, but everybody holds out as long as they can. Everyone who’s used it has reported having an adrenalin rush. It’s less frustrating and more exciting.”

Cracka does not see itself in competition with the established cut-price auctioneers, who are clearing the nation’s wine glut at $3 a cleanskin bottle.

“We’re trying to work with highly regarded wines,” Taylor says. “The auction is a hook to get people in the door. A lot of the producers are not so much interested in clearing wines but taking their wines to new channels.”

That doesn’t mean there aren’t bargains around. Among its listed wines, Cracka is selling bottles of 2006 Songlines Estate Bylines (a McLaren Vale shiraz by John Duval) for $19.95, down from its retail price of $64.95.

The site is still relatively unknown, as Taylor has deliberately delayed a marketing campaign.“We’ve had some technical issues,” Taylor says. “We’ve deliberately run things a bit slow while we perfect our system, and we’re probably still only about a week away from getting there. Then we intend to ramp up the marketing.”

You don’t need to be an economist to know that more buyers will mean higher prices. Meanwhile, Cracka is today auctioning five dozen each of riesling, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet shiraz and pinot noir, mostly from South Australian wineries.

Cracka has also licensed reviews by James Halliday, Nick Stock, Peter Forrestal and Huon Hooke. “We have tried to remain independent,” Taylor says. “The thing that makes our site unique is that we bring those reviewers to one place, so you can compare the reviewers. We provide them with a broad overview so they can then make a decision.”

Cracka