UK-based wine and spirits merchants Nickolls & Perks has reached an agreement to acquire the Wine Collector platform from Wine Owners.
In a move that brings together fine wine clients and a software company tailored to their needs, Nickolls & Perks is expanding with the purchase of Wine Collector. For the merchant, it marks an opportunity to integrate with a team they have worked with since 2023. For Wine Owners, meanwhile, it proves a strategic move after the leadership came to recognise that the needs of collectors and enthusiasts would be best met under a business primarily focused on those requirements.
Nickolls & Perks, 'the longest established provincial wine merchant' in the UK, was founded in 1797. For the last four generations, the company has been under the ownership of the Gardener family, who have established a track record of investing in new technology to meet the evolving needs of their customers. The Gardeners are said to value the essence of the business they are acquiring and understand the needs of its subscribers.
Founded in 2013 by the software company Wine Owners, Wine Collector is a platform for managing wine collections with an integrated trading exchange. It allows collectors and enthusiasts to manage their wines and self-direct in the secondary market. In recent years, Wine Owners has become a leading provider of advanced software as a service (SaaS) platforms for many of the world’s top wine merchants, traders, retailers, importers, and storage providers.
Nick Martin, CEO of Wine Owners, said of the acquisition: "An important consideration was Nickolls & Perks’ recognition of the heritage of Wine Collector as a service to those who choose to self-manage and to self-direct. Both companies are working together on a handover that is as seamless as possible, and I have no doubt that the platform will flourish under the stewardship of the fantastic team at Nickolls & Perks.”
The platform will transition from Wine Owners to Nickolls & Perks on 3 April. Under the new ownership, users can expect a refreshed look and feel, along with service delivery that continues to meet the expectations of fine wine collectors.
Will Gardener, managing director of Nickolls & Perks, stated: "We migrated to Wine Owners industry software Wine Hub in 2023 and have been very impressed with the simplicity of the user experience and intuitiveness of the workflows. We knew that Nick and his team’s time and focus had been increasingly dominated by this sector of their business, and when he mentioned that they were looking for a new home for Wine Collector, it really felt like a moment of serendipity.
“Wine Collector clients can expect much of the same, and we will work hard, with the support of Nick and his team, to build on the considerable success of this best-in-class, private client fine wine management and trading exchange.”
