Amazon is ready to start selling wine in the US, according to the Financial Times.
The company is looking to recruit a senior wine buyer, who would be responsible for “the acquisition of a massive new product selection” for its site.
According to Decanter, a UK-based wine publication, Amazon will work in partnership with wine.com.
FT reports how difficult it can be to sell wine online (and that it’s getting harder). The legal ramifications of selling beer would be the same, and the margins much more challenging. So don’t count on beer in the mix. (The cartoon above appeared in The New Yorker several years ago and usually is pinned to a corkboard beside my desk.)
Amazon declined to comment on its plans. It has said earlier it will add wine and beer to a pilot fresh grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh, that it is currently operating only in its home city of Seattle.
Further reading: Vinofictions ponders this from many angles, but mostly wine. You can connect the dots back to beer.