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LADS CREATE AN ONLINE OFF-LICENCE!

The march of technology is leaving nothing untouched - not even booze! While our ancestors had to queue for a mug of barn-brewed scrumpy, we'll soon be able to tap an order into our phones as we leave work - and find six cans of Strongbow sitting outside the front door when we get home. At least that's the claim of two friends from Edinburgh, who set up the UK's first virtual off licence late last year.

Appropriately, the idea for lastorders.com - now valued at £20million - came to its creators, James Oliver, 32, and Ian Gardiner, 28, while they were sitting in the pub!

"Ian knows the internet really well, and we sat down in the pub last April and agreed to think up four great ideas before we'd finished our pint" says James, who used to be Ian's stockbroker. "This was the one we went with because when we looked into the competition there just wasn't any. There were loads of wine sites, but no-one seemed to be pitching booze directly at the blokes who drink it."

In the two weeks between their launch and last Christmas, lastorders.com notched up more than five million hits, and now has 100,000 customers, three-quarters of them men.

"Beer and lager, unlike wine, goes across all income groups and age brackets, but our big markets are students and what we call the post-lad, pre-Dad set" says James.

The two friends are both keen athletes - James has skied for England, while Ian represented his country as a rower - so they are well aware of the link between alcohol and sport. That's why, instead of simply selling big brand drinks at a discount, they decided to bundle beer with associated items like match tickets. Their current seasonal offer is a barbecue, two cases of beer and four bottles of wine for £49.99.

Simply fill your virtual basket, and click to order. Delivery charges start at £3.99. As customers need a credit card, there's no worries about under 18s buying illicit booze.  The only problem is the time it takes to deliver the drink. At the moment, the soonest James and Ian can manage is the next day. They hope to offer same day delivery to London by the end of August and across the rest of the country over the next six months. James says "We wont be happy till we've got it down to 2 hours flat. We've just borrowed £5million to build a WAP site and adapt for digital interactive TV. Because beer is such an impulse purchase that's how we think our customers will want to reach us in the future. The idea is that they see a beer ad and press a button on their TV linking to our order page."

In a bid to make sure their customers remember them, the lads slip prizes into 1% of their deliveries. "Anything from a fleece with our logo on to a free trip" says James. We've already taken 16 people to Dublin for St Patrick's Day with Guinness, and another lot to Iceland with Bacardi and Martini. We like surprising people!"

ORDER NOW!!! Visit lastorders.com - the online off-licence!

If you have got the taste for booze don't forget to visit INTERNET BOOZE!

For something a little lighter pop HERE for a refreshing glass of elderflower champagne!

24/03/01