Getwine buys Cybercellar

South African wine portal Getwine has acquired a 100% stake in online wine retailer, Cybercellar, which offers it more scale to grow.

Getwine and Cybercellar allow clients to buy South African wine online and have it delivered to their door.

Getwine, based in the Western Cape, wants to broaden its reach nationally, particularly among wine enthusiasts in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

“The acquisition of Cybercellar is a natural progression towards achieving our goal of expanding our presence across the rest of South Africa,” it said.

“The Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal wine markets are recognized as a potent force within South Africa, and the addition of Cybercellar to Getwine will provide exceptional value.”

Getwine said this strategic acquisition of Cybercellar allows it to diversify its wine offerings and extend its expertise.

It said it wanted to become the foremost leader in South Africa’s wine eCommerce sector, and the latest move will help it in this endeavour.

Dating back to 1998, Cybercellar is the oldest online wine store in South Africa.

It was established during the early days of the Internet with a straightforward mission – to promote local wine producers by facilitating the online sale of their wines.

Getwine started in 2003 and originally sourced fine wines from top wine estates and sold them to friends via Van Riebeeck Wine Promotions e-mail marketing.

After experiencing strong growth over the next 24 months, the founders established the online shopping site hosted at getwine.co.za in May 2005.

It initially only offered unlabelled wines to its South African clients but started to sell labelled wines at reduced prices a few years later.

“Apart from our unlabelled and labelled wines, we also provide information on wineries, winemakers, and further information relating to South African wines,” it said.