Majestic Wine abandons six-bottle rule to fight back against supermarkets

Specialist wine retailer Majestic Wine has abandoned its long-held strategy of only selling wine by the caseload and start selling wine by the bottle from Tuesday as it seeks to compete with the supermarket chains.

Customers have, until now, been limited to buying a minimum of six bottles, a policy that had been in place since the company started trading 1980, when Majestic had to sell wine by the case to comply with the licensing laws.

However, pressure from supermarkets over the last couple of years forced two of Majestic’s rivals, Oddbins and Threshers, into administration, while industry-wide retail sales of wine have fallen 14.5% since 2011, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

“We are going to get a lot more visits from people who want to pick up a bottle of something on their way to dinner,” said group chief executive Rowan Gormley on Monday as he unveiled a new pricing proposition for the Christmas period, offering free delivery and free glass hire, a money-back guarantee and extra savings on mixed cases of wines and spirits.

AIM-listed Majestic ran a trial of the scheme in a number of shops for several months earlier this year and found it proved popular.

However, Gormley, who became chief executive in April, warned the decision to sell single bottles would not be enough to compete with the big supermarkets.

“I think this is one piece of the puzzle,” he said. “The complete puzzle has to be delivering a customer experience which is better than everyone else.

“We are not doing it because we thought it would sell more wine, we are doing it because it is a better experience. In the long run, we hope it will sell more wine.”