The popularity of certain goods has often been dependent on the demographic and class to which they appeal.
This is something that is slowly changing as a result of the internet.
Entrepreneurs who recognize the usefulness of online retail in increasing product accessibility are onto a good thing. Millions of people can potentially be reached and afforded the opportunity to buy a product they may never have bought otherwise.
A recent article in CNN Money highlighted an example of this. Entitled 'Drinking for dollars: Silicon Valley offers resources for a whole new generation of wine snobs', the piece focuses on the sale of wine online.
Online wine connoisseurship site Bottlenotes.com provides the basis of the piece and will have, as a result of its foresight in providing the service and attracting the attentions of CNN Money, no-doubt benefitted from the subsequent online PR boost.
Wine was, before the revolution of the internet, something reserved for the wealthier, higher classes.
This was arguably down to two main factors - the accessibility of it and a lack of knowledge with regards to what constituted a good wine.
It is the addressing of these two things that has allowed the public - irrelevant of class and, to a certain degree, wealth - to get involved.
The news provider likens Bottlenotes.com to Match.com in the sense that it asks a collection of questions and subsequently flags up wines that would be to your taste.
No trawling through pages of books or travelling the French vineyards to find a wine that intrigues the palate, it can all be done with the click of a button.
And it doesn't stop there. There is also the 'eBay of wine' – Vinfolio.com. Up and running for six years, this website is a marketplace for collectors to sell their stock and enthusiastic new tasters to buy it. The 12 million listed bottles are worth $2 billion.
Sometimes it's not about coming up with a revolutionary idea, but simply taking an existing platform and using it to widen an established product's accessibility.
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