Thresher Group makes ground

Oddbins’ fall from grace and Thresher’s revival is reflected in their shifting shares of voice in the national wine press

THE FUTURE ain’t what it used to be," as American baseball legend and renowned wit Yogi Berra once said.  Never was this more true than in the fortunes of the nation’s wine retailers at the hands of the nation’s wine writers.

Let us first consider Oddbins. Wine Intelligence In the Press has been tracking the end of the affair between Oddbins and the leading wine writers for over a year now, and August has been a particularly inauspicious month for the Wimbledonbased retail chain.

During the month its share of voice dropped to a two year low of 6.6%, trailing Sainsbury, Waitrose and Safeway in the hit parade.

This is the same Oddbins that, until recently, could do no wrong in the eyes of the wine critics. Its recent fall from grace has coincided with a range review and price increases ordered by its new parent, the Castel Group, which also owns the Nicolas chain.

Contrast this with the fortunes of Thresher Group.  For years this high street off-licence behemoth was Oddbins’ poor relation in terms of reputation among wine writers.

Some of this lack of goodwill can be traced to the ill-tempered merger with Victoria Wine, the farcical – and now abandoned – First Quench name, the store closure and range rationalisation programme.

Now it has two new own-label ranges to shout about: Origin, which represents the best examples (according to Thresher’s buying team) of leading grape varieties from around the world, and Radcliffe’s Regional Classics, a range of Old World favourites packaged in a consumer-friendly format.

The result of this furious spate of product development has been a rehabilitation of the Thresher brand in the eyes of the media.  In July and August of this year, Thresher recorded its highest share of voice (6.3% and 3.3% respectively) since our records began nearly two years ago.

This compares with a very modest average monthly share of 1.8% for the past year. Clearly Thresher has a long way to go to overhaul its hitherto more glamorous high street rival.

But its sudden revival – coupled with Oddbins’ equally precipitous decline – should serve notice on all retailers that old Yogi’s epigram is resonating powerfully within the wine trade right now.