A new online shop for spirits has been launched by Diageo. Alexander & James is named after Alexander Walker and James Buchanan, the founders of two of Diageo’s most popular whisky brands. A Spirits Business article quotes managing director Philippa Dickson: “It is a white glove, end to end luxury brand experience where people will be able to learn about our spirits and receive expert advice on food pairing and mixology ideas for every occasion. We provide the ease of making a well-informed purchase online.”

The design of the website is sleek and efficient, navigation is easy, it is all very well put together, as you could expect from such a major company. The shop is clearly directed at people with money to spend, and new customers signing up are promised invites for events such as Fashion Week or film premieres as well as the occasional free sample.

The pricing is up to that level. If you expected Diageo to let you benefit from the saved retail markup on their wholesale prices, you will be disappointed. Anything in the shop is significantly more expensive than from standard online retailers. A few examples from the whisky section: Johnnie Walker Blue Label: £179, Talisker 25 yo 45.8%: £300, Caol Ila 18 yo: £87.95. Massive profit margins here, if you keep in mind that Diageo must already make profit from wholesale prices. So in fact the customers pay for the freebies they are offered.

Consumer education is a focus of the shop which is always a good thing. But how this is done here is a serious case for the bullshit police. I have only looked in the whisky section, but I have found lots of inaccuracies and perpetuated myths like these:

If you dig deeper, you will find even more. And that was only for the whisky section.

Yes, I have switched to nitpick mode when looking at the website. But this is not a startup venture run from a garage. This is Diageo, this is THE major whisky company in the world. They should know better. And I know they know.

Don’t tell me now “This is not a shop for whisky anoraks”. Indeed it isn’t. But if you really want to educate your customers, you have to do it with facts and not with hot air from the marketing department. With the ‘knowledge’ that is presented here, the upper crust will only have the illusion of knowing something about what they drink.