MIAMI & DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits (Southern Glazer's)—the world’s preeminent distributor of beverage alcohol, today announced it has made an equity investment in ReserveBar, the leading ecommerce platform for premium and luxury spirits in the U.S., connecting retailers with consumers. Led by Southern Glazer’s Ventures, the deal expands Southern Glazer’s digital marketing offerings to suppliers by providing an additional three-tier-compliant platform for marketing their brands to consumers.
ReserveBar is the premier online destination for premium, ultra-premium and luxury spirits and is dedicated to personalization, upscale packaging and fast and reliable delivery. ReserveBar enables consumers to discover new releases, special limited editions, celebrity owned and influenced brands, curated cocktail and mixology content, and bespoke gifting, including personalized engraved bottles, spirits and accessory bundles and premium merchandise and other giftware. ReserveBar, which is not a licensed supplier, wholesaler or retailer, connects consumers with licensed retailers to effectuate the consumer’s purchase. Through ReserveBar, Southern Glazer’s can help more effectively connect its supplier brands in luxury and premium segments to consumers in the fast-moving beverage alcohol digital e-commerce space.
ReserveBar also announces its Spirited Change initiative, a commitment to take actions to improve diversity and inclusion in the industry by expanding access to its platform and providing marketing assistance for minority- and women-owned suppliers, with the goal of raising consumer awareness of those brands and making it easier for consumers to find and shop for those brands. The Spirited Change initiative will be led by Jameel Spencer as its Executive Director. Mr. Spencer is an award-winning veteran brand builder, who has played pivotal business roles for Shaquille O’Neal, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Simpson over the last 25+ years.
“With ReserveBar, we are able to offer our supplier partners an exciting three-tier compliant, consumer-focused channel to market and sell their premium brands,” said David Chaplin, Chief Growth Officer, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. “We firmly believe that ReserveBar’s innovative industry leadership in providing suppliers a content-to-commerce, premium branded, and experiential platform makes them the ideal partner. This venture with ReserveBar is not only well aligned with our new Fine Wine and Artisanal Spirits strategy, but also with our commitment to expand representation of minority- and women-owned wine and spirits brands in the industry. We look forward to helping our diverse base of suppliers leverage this platform to build their brands and reach an important and growing category of consumer.”
“We are thrilled to embark on our partnership with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits because it will allow ReserveBar to continue – and accelerate – its tremendous growth,” said Lindsay Held, co-founder and CEO of ReserveBar. “Having an industry stalwart, such as Southern Glazer’s, which has a never-ending quest for innovation, technology and industry best practices, is not only a great compliment to my ReserveBar colleagues but also a great cultural and business fit. We look forward to expanding ecommerce, digital marketing, and analytical support for Southern Glazer’s existing and future supplier clients. I also cannot overstate how appreciative we are of Southern Glazer’s commitment to our Spirited Change initiative; together, we expect to bring real, measurable change by expanding diversity and inclusion within the spirits industry.”
Southern Glazer’s (SG) Ventures is the investment arm of the Company, focused on creating and accelerating growth in strategic and complementary areas of interest to spark new opportunities for innovation in the rapidly changing marketplace. The team identifies, invests, builds, and launches new growth engines to ensure that Southern Glazer’s will continue to transform, create value, and succeed long into the future. SG Ventures is led by David Chaplin.
About Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits is the world’s pre-eminent distributor of beverage alcohol, and proud to be a multi-generational, family-owned company. The Company has operations in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Southern Glazer’s urges all retail customers and adult consumers to market, sell, serve, and enjoy its products responsibly. For more information visit www.southernglazers.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @sgwinespirits and on Facebook at Facebook.com/SouthernGlazers.
