After years of selling other people’s products, it seems that Amazon now wants a slice of the product pie themselves.
The online retailer is inviting outside companies to “join the Amazon family of brands,” providing a link where manufacturers can sign up to make products that become part of Amazon’s own collection of private brands.
While most of the ‘Amazon brands’ have covered sectors like clothing, footwear and groceries, the online giant has recently taken its first steps into private label alcohol with their own Gin brand.
Marketed under the name Tovess, the premium gin is the retail giant’s first spirit and will be available to buy exclusively through Amazon UK.
It is believed that the gin will shortly be joined by other spirits, with Amazon saying that further expressions “will be added over the course of time”. According to Amazon, the Tovess brand is “dedicated to curating expertly distilled spirits from around the world”.
The Tovess Gin was based on a traditional London Dry gin and is apparently made at a distillery on the outskirts of Birmingham, UK. And while the brand has no particular back-story, the gin itself has been produced using an 18th-century copper pot stills that are described as “among some of the oldest in the country”.
The new premium gin has been made in a single batch distillation and has been infused with individually distilled lime and grapefruit peels said to give it “fruity notes and a smooth Mediterranean taste”.
Tovess is said to have a “fresh and fruity profile” and Amazon have recommended that it be served over ice with tonic water, and garnished with grapefruit, cucumber or lime.
With the UK in the middle of a multi-million-pound gin boom, it is not surprising that the retailer has tested the waters with a UK gin. After all, a search for “gin” on Amazon’s U.K. website produces more than 10,000 results.
Amazon’s “Our Brands” offer the retail better margins and can be used to help persuade big brands to competitively cut their prices.
Bottled at 41.5% ABV, Tovess Single Batch Crafted Dry Gin is priced at £24.99 (US$32.44) per 700ml bottles. It is available to buy in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Amazon Prime members will also benefit from receiving the expression through one-day delivery.
