‘Fine wine’ helps boost Majestic sales

Demand for “fine wine” saw wine merchant Majestic record a UK store sales growth of 5.9% over the Christmas period.

Over the same period, between 29 October and 6 January, like-for-like UK store sales growth excluding store openings was 2.8%.

The company said sales had been boosted by the popularity of bottles costing more than £20 indicating a demand for “fine wines”.

The result builds on an equally good summer for the merchant, which saw a 39% increase in Prosecco sales help boost its half-yearly profits.

Total profits before tax in the 26 weeks to 30 September rose 4.2% on last year to £9.5 million, while total sales increased 3.3% to £130.2 million.

While increasing demand online has seen the retailer recently introduces a new and improved e-commerce system to cope with growing demand.

Mobile and web transactions now account for 11.1 percent of Majestic’s total retail revenues growing 14.7 percent in 12 months, according to the company’s recent financial statements.

Steve Lewis, chief executive of Majestic Wine said: “I am pleased to say that recently we opened our 200th store enabling more and more people to shop locally with Majestic.

“This Christmas, helped by our knowledgeable staff, customers chose to treat themselves and we saw strong growth in sales of fine wine above £20 per bottle.”

The UK store sales result brings total growth to 0.8% for the first 40 weeks of the financial year.