Basically I have studied their business model up and down and I really cannot see how what they are professing to offer the customer is saving the buyer money. I own my own wine import and self-distribution company so I understand the system and know what I’m talking about. So here’s what they are doing: Concerning national brands they buy from the winery and sell to the consumer. So they become a ‘middle man’ adding their markup. Simple as that! Concerning international brands there has to be an importer.. so they buy from the importer (they become a distributor in other words) and sell those wines to the consumer. Bear in mind the three tier system in the US operates like this: import/distributor/retail. As a business you can be two of the three.. not all three. All this stuff I’m reading about there being a ‘subscription fee’ effectively acts as another layer of cost added to the consumer. Regarding my business we work directly with our overseas producers, we direct-import and direct-sell to retailers and restaurants, thus cutting out any additional layers like other distributors. So I’m essence I don’t see what Naked Wines is doing differently to any other online wine business except that they appear to buy directly their domestic wines.