I remember seeing an ad,
during some football game or early 2000s movie rerun, for Cincinnati. Among other things, the ad touted the city’s
proximity to a huge portion of America’s population.
So when the WineDirect case
noted that the company installed a distribution center in Ohio, I was only half
surprised.
The governor of Ohio, and
former presidential candidate Jon Kasich, said "We're to the point now
where location matters because logistics matters again… We're in a perfect
location."
In fact-checking him, the
organization PolitiFact found that “184,900,000 people live within 600 miles of
Ohio, or 59.9% of the U.S. population.”
That 600-mile radius is key for logistics because it
represents, more or less, a one-day’s drive (or ride in the back of a truck for
a wine bottle).
They also note that “in
addition to 60% of the U.S. population, Kasich’s claim also would encompass the
most populous parts of Ontario and Quebec.”
Beyond the absolute number of people in the region,
WineDirect made a smart call putting a new warehouse in Ohio – able to cover
many of the top wine-drinking states of California (via the original warehouse),
New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. Sorry
Texas and Florida…
Source:
Your post made me curious about Canadian import regulations, so I looked into it a bit and found that Canada's AB import laws are pretty burdensome. The biggest issue, it seems, is that all alcoholic imports must go through a separate provincial liquor board or commission for each Canadian province. Not only does a US exporter need to get permission from the provincial board, but it also needs to hire a registered local agent to secure label approvals and other requirements.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, Canada requires that certain information on all wine labels be in both English and French. Quebec imposes additional French language requirements.
In terms of advertising, all advertisements must be approved by Advertising Standards Canada, a trade group that ensures that all advertisements comply with provincial and federal standards.
As an interesting aside, the US currently has a trade enforcement action against Canada pending at the WTO. The action challenges a BC law that allows BC wines to be sold on grocery store shelves, but requires that imported wines are sold in a "store within a store" (aka a mini liquor mart that is physically separate from the grocery store, has separate cashiers, and has controlled access). The US alleges that this regulation constitutes a breach of Canada's obligations as a WTO member.
Sources:
https://www.ttb.gov/itd/canada.shtml
https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2017/january/Challenges_Canadian_Trade_Measures_That_Discriminate_Against_US_Wine