Winemakers hook into fish net deals

By ADAM GIFFORD

Technology used to sell wholesale fish on the internet is helping winemakers bring down the cost of getting their product to market.

Coopers Creek vineyard has started the business-to-business electronic exchange with the sale of five cases of wine to Newmarket Wines and Spirits.

The exchange was set up as part of a joint venture between fish broker Southfresh and the University of Waikato school of management.

Under the Waikato Southfresh Innovation Project, master of business administration students try to create electronic commerce ventures using the exchange software Southfresh developed for its own business.

Southfresh chief executive Toby Warren said the students divided into three project groups, developing business cases for markets for wine, animal remedies and organic produce.

"The organics idea didn't cut it - it's a hard category, as the existing produce guys handle the stuff already," Mr Warren said. "The animal remedies exchange looks like it will happen, but it's dependent on the big guys like Pfizer and Bayer, and they don't move fast."

Southfresh has an 80 per cent stake in the new ventures, and the rest is shared between the university and students.

The wine exchange makes money by taking a 2.5 per cent commission, which is lower than normal fees. It will not do online billing.

"The idea is you are automating relationships between people who already do business," said Mr Warren. "Users of our other exchanges haven't asked us for a billing engine, and I think that's one of the strengths of the model."

Coopers Creek chief executive Andrew Hendry said he was attracted to the exchange by its simplicity.

"The costs of participating will be negligible, and we see real advantages in the speed with which transactions can be done."