Unicorn Democratizes The Buying And Selling Of Spirits With Online Auctions

Unicorn, an online and app-based auction house and marketplace combines a proprietary technology platform with brick-and-mortar vault services to democratize the way people buy, trade and sell alcohol, serving both casual spirits enthusiasts and serious collectors and disrupting an industry that was ripe for innovation.

“There really wasn’t a modern tech-forward platform that met the expectations that consumers have pretty much in every other industry,” said Phil Mikhaylov, cofounder and CEO of Unicorn. “When you think of watches and bags, there’s so many apps out there like the Real Real, but wines and spirits felt exclusive and inaccessible.

“We saw a real opportunity to build a modern platform that made the entire experience seamless from discovery to purchase to selling to vaulting your collection,” Mikhaylov added. “There’s really three things that we cared about, which is to create a simple, frictionless and accessible platform that we could launch for everyone.”

With tech-enabled authentication, appraisal and digitization of every bottle, Unicorn serves as a Kelley Blue Book for drinkers. It has a massive database of 500,000-plus historical transactions and 1 million-plus digital photos, making it easy to spot inconsistencies and ensure authenticity.

Unicorn has a huge spirits vault in Chicago, where the company is based, with over $100 million worth of bottles under management and 11 dropoff and pickup locations around the country.

With one to three weekly auctions with up to 6,000 listings worth $1 million to $2 million and 65,000-plus bids, the site is extremely active. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s and Christie’s only hold auctions every month or two, and only for high-end bottles.

Because of its many data points, Unicorn’s pricing is extremely accurate. “When make an estimate, 95 percent of the time the bottle is going to go between the low and the high estimate,” said Mikhaylov. “There’s very little variance. Sometimes it goes way above that and that’s just because there’s a ton of demand for that particular bottle, but in general, our data 95 percent of the time, if we give a low to high estimate, hits between that range.”

Bottles sell for between $100 to $250,000, and Unicorn logged more than 50,000 sales under $100 last year. That’s why Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z have been leaning into the platform. The cohorts comprise 60 percent to 70 percent of Unicorn’s customer base, disrupting a space traditionally dominated by older collectors.

“We saw that over 30 percent of the bottles that are $100-plus on Unicorn, are coming from the Gen Z and Millennial customer base,” Mikhaylov said. “These buyers are making up the majority of the users on our platform, but they’re also making up the majority of the buyers of the more premium products. They might not want to take possession of their entire collection until they’re ready to settle down, so they can just view that entire collection digitally on their phone.”

The younger generations are buying high end bottles, too. These are spirits they were introduced to and first got excited about. They’re nostalgic for the spirits and few shops carry vintage liquor, said Cody Modeer, cofounder, adding that most stores are just trying to sell through current inventory. “There’s not an easy way to access these things and there’s a lot of games,” he said. “There’s retailers that shy away from showing the product. They hide it in the basement. You have to talk to somebody or be in the know. There’s a lot of curiosity in the space and people looking for an easier way to get what they want.”

Unicorn, above all, is a technology company. “Over 80 percent of our sales happen in the app. At our core, we are a technology company that happens to focus on spirits and wine. We’ve invested millions of dollars into the user experience and the technology powering it,” said Mikhaylov. “Most auction houses rely on clunky web platforms or filling up a room with people that want to spend money, but our mobile app is meeting the expectations of today’s consumers and that’s what sets us apart. Behind the scenes of Unicorn OS, we’ve brought in people from Uber and Amazon and large alcohol brands. They’re all super excited and ambitious to build the tech here.”