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Cybercellar takes on Getwine
Two of South Africa’s biggest online wine shops are caught up in a plagiarism battle.
Cybercellar, who’s website recently got a brand new look, is accusing Getwine of copying their newsletter.
Cybercellar published the following article on their blog:
Getwine flatters us with plagiarism
Our deals are so good that Getwine, a competitor, is copying us blatantly. Down to the product image we created, the text we wrote, our Buy-button and even our corporate colours!
While we view this shameless copy and paste exercise as unethical business conduct (people have been fired for plagiarism), we do feel pleased. As the saying goes, “Imitation is the best form of flattery“. Getwine is confirming what our customers know: you’d better be on Cybercellar’s mailing list if you want to be first to hear about great wine deals!
We offered Journey’s End The Pastor’s Blend in our newsletter of 29 August 2012 at 40% discount. Two weeks later, the exact same offer was made in Getwine’s newsletter. Nothing wrong with that: it’s a great offer and we’d be surprised if our competitors didn’t follow us. Cybercellar is often first with special offers on wine or exclusive releases. Just last week, we were the first retailer to sell the 2011 vintage of the iconic Chocolate Block. It is not uncommon for competitors to copy our offers and initiatives. We are used to being copied. After all, Cybercellar was the first online wine shop in South Africa, back in 1998.
However, Getwine took it further this time. They used exactly the same headline and opening sentence, and lifted two images we created – the product shot and our characteristic green Buy-button. The strangest thing is that they even used our corporate colours, which don’t match their own official colour scheme.
