CLAUDIA MASUEGER: Making Fine Wine Fun in China
#013 - Making Fine Wine Fun in China | Claudia Masueger
“I’m a Swiss mountain girl coming from a village with 300 people. I arrived in China in 2008 with two suitcases full of wine samples and a will to rock the dragon.” - Claudia Masueger
This week's interview was a whole lot of fun, and the fact that wine was involved is only part of the reason. The real credit goes to the great energy brought to the table by my guest, Claudia Masueger. Claudia is the Founder and CEO of CHEERS Wines, a chain of retail wine stores based in Beijing. She is from Switzerland and her family has been in the wine business for four generations. Claudia combines her genetic wine knowledge, a big-hearted enthusiasm for life, a love of meeting new people and learning about them, and her business acumen in a way that makes CHEERS a true laowai success story in China.
CHEERS’ goal is to make wine drinking fun and affordable for the emerging new wine generation in China. When Claudia arrived in 2008, she had huge dreams for China’s wine market, and she’s made a big impact already. She first built a successful wholesale business with B2B sales, but a changing landscape and then a massive warehouse fire that shut them down for four months gave her time to reevaluate her strategy, and CHEERS Wines was born. CHEERS focuses on the retail consumer, selling high quality imported wines at affordable prices, and with a special emphasis on offering unpretentious wine education to customers so that they can feel comfortable learning about and enjoying wine from around the world.
Contact links and more information about Claudia and CHEERS Wines can be found below.
Also, in show news: I spent several days updating the website and also getting the Facebook page in order. Please check them both out when you have a chance, LIKE the Facebook page, and let me know what you think!
Lastly this week, a bit of personal news that also affects the show: I have been planning to launch a big international press push right around now for some time, but a surprise (and drastic hit) to my income a couple months ago has really limited my ability to do what I was planning to do. The show will always be free, but if you enjoy it and would like to help support my efforts to make it better and to get it in front of even more people, I’ve added a new DONATION page to the website that will help you do so...
You can make a one-time contribution in any amount via the PayPal link or WeChat QR code. All funds will be used to build the show, and everything helps. Note that PayPal tells me who donates, but WeChat is anonymous - so if you contribute via WeChat I won’t know who to thank unless you tell me, but thanks all the same!
CHEERS Wines:
www.cheers-wines.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers_Wines
Claudia Masueger:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-masueger-cheerswines/
WeChat: Tseringlo
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