Thanks to the new Wine not Italy e-commerce an italian entrepreneur, Alessandra D’Onofrio, makes a dream come true: to sell only the best award-winning italian wines in London city!
“We need defeats more than victories and constancy rewards” To speak is Alessandra D’Onofrio, Roman by birth and now an entrepreneur known in the London world for the quality of her wines. Started from the bottom with a great desire to do, single mom and with two children, opens in 2016 �Wine not Italy�, an e-commerce of only award-winning Italian wines.
�The idea was to highlight many award-winning Italian wines, but not very well known in the United Kingdom, so I decided to open the doors to London and promote these exceptional wines with competitive and affordable prices and here is the first e-commerce where every choice is excellent and guaranteed.” The Roman entrepreneur explains to us.
From there, thanks to a mix of courage, ability and determination, the step towards the realization of the project was short.
�The online world has always had a particular attention on my part, and at the same time I wanted the medium-small wineries with their excellent made in Italy to be better known.��
�I start traveling and arrive in London, here I note that online purchases were part of the daily life of even older people and the ease with which even the smallest needs were satisfied left me amazed, so my project began.�
Alessandra tell us about your work experience
“I was born as an administrative, numbers have always been my passion. After some experiences in companies of various entities and types, I move to a large company where they decide to join me as HR. This experience is of great help in growing professionally, but above all in relating to people and therefore to have greater relationship skills. To all this is added a large dose of ambition and so after a first experience in an Italian commercial brokerage company with two other partners I decide to walk alone.“
Let’s go back to the activity, what are the challenges that have to be faced?
“The difficulties weren�t few, because each step required greater commitment both for the language and for the lack of knowledge of the regulations in a country not yours, but I must say that the United Kingdom is meritocratic and professionalism, skill and fairness are rewarded.
If you are careful and follow the protocols everything proceeds, then as far as the online world is concerned, over the years I have tried to learn as much as I could, also through Masters in the sector.”
“Opening an e-commerce business for many may seem like a game, but there is a lot of work, just think about the fact that you are a virtual shop in a sea of ??competitors. Knowing how to work well on marketing, on social media obviously helps to make oneself known then the quality of the service and the products they offer are primary.
Wine not Italy offers its customers the opportunity to live the same experience of buying an offline wine shop, with all the advantages of the physical world combined with the flexibility of technology from the comfort of home.“
Do you think Italian companies are ready?
“I believe that more and more companies are pushing themselves into the online world, especially in Italy where the percentage of online purchases is much lower than in many other countries and I believe that this post-Covid period has given many an awareness of the potential that this world can have for their companies.“
In conclusion, today there are young people who accept the challenge of becoming entrepreneurs. What advice can you give them?
“My advice to those who start a new business is to have a clear understanding of the objectives and the way to achieve them: a good business plan, an entrepreneurial idea that has a foundation and evaluates the tools for startuppers and then a lot of determination.”