When you think of Italy, what comes to mind? Art? The Colosseum? Romance? Opera?
Italy has contributed significantly to all forms of culture, but if you’re like most of us, the first answer on your lips will be food. Or wine. Or both.
And, if you treasure a memory of a special night in Rome, Firenze, or Venice, and a sumptuous meal accompanied by a full-bodied Valpolicella or Pinot Grigio, chances are good that at least some of the elements for that exquisite evening arrived via wtcfoodemporium.com, the world’s largest online business-to-business marketplace for Italian food and wine.
“Over 13,000 products from all the Italian regions are available on the platform,” says Leonardo Monniello, who manages the site for the World Trade Center Trieste. “In other traditional places where restaurant owners and food managers can buy Italian products, it is almost impossible to find a selection of high end products ‘100 percent made in Italy’ as varied as in our food and beverage portal.”
In addition to requiring that all ingredients are sourced from Italy, says Monniello, companies may only be represented on the site if they are attentive to tradition. These are the culinary artisans of their respective regions; most do not distribute through mass marketing or retail chains.
Here, buyers can find handmade pastas, scrumptious desserts, delicate virgin olive oils, regional wines, sauces, pesto, fresh fish, meats, cheeses, cold cuts—virtually every taste and ingredient associated with Italian cuisine, all offered at reasonable costs.
Typical buyers from the site include restaurant and bar owners; gourmet shops and delicatessens; and hotel and club food managers; as well as other specialty retailers. Much of the site’s revenue comes from B2C within Italy—about €1million per year—but thanks in part to promotions via the global network of World Trade Centers, businesses in other countries have begun discovering and using the emporium, especially in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Access is free of charge to registered business owners.
Most packaged foods can be shipped around the world, but the emporium also makes it possible to import perishables to other European countries. “Products are delivered in a specific packaging which keeps them fresh.”
Thanks to its advanced warehouse management system, “The order is immediately executed. Processing time, then, is very fast – about one working day in European countries.”
Delivery time, of course, depends on the distance between the countries. To get from Italy to Twente, in the Netherlands typically takes a day or two.
We asked Monniello what kinds of opportunities WebPort Global members might find to partner with wtcfoodemporium.com. “Worldwide importers have free access to the food and beverage portal and can place orders directly online,” he said.
Where there are import restrictions, “It can represent a business opportunity for foreign companies to assist Italian producers to obtain the requested certifications.”
Through the World Trade Center Trieste, the emporium has begun to partner with other World Trade Centers to increase visibility and sales.
Monniello says that through World Trade Center partnerships, they are increasing promotions in the US where they expect to begin exporting in 2018, followed by Arabic Gulf countries.
( Melissa )28 Dec,2017
