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Merchants’ plea for supplier support
A number of key UK independent wine merchants have spoken out about the urgent need for more supplier support.
As the independent sector looks for help in its efforts to stand out from the supermarkets, Jamie Hutchinson of London independent The Sampler told the drinks business that supplier relationships were strained.
“We’re having a hard time at the moment, but they’ve never been wonderfully good,†he said.
“It’s unacceptable for suppliers to try to sell us wines that have been discounted in supermarkets, as it makes us look expensive. It’s an increasing problem,†he said.
Hutchinson’s opinion is echoed by Stephen Finch, founder of Fulham-based independent Vagabond, which opened last October offering 100 wines by the sip.
“I wish suppliers would stop trying to peddle wines to the independent sector that are carried by the supermarkets,†Finch said. “For a distributor to even think we’d carry that kind of dross shows they’re not worth dealing with.â€
Meanwhile, Simon Baile, former managing director of Oddbins and current owner of the ExCellar independent chain, bemoaned the lack of supplier support for UK independents: “It’s a big issue the trade needs to grapple with. We’re a million miles from a solution.
“Today’s challenge is for the trade to understand how much it needs to support the independents.
“A programme needs to be formulated in the supply chain to allow independents to develop their market, so they are able to carve out a niche for themselves.â€
From the supplier side, Patrick McGrath MW, managing director of Hatch Mansfield, agreed that distributors need to do more to nurture new independent merchants
“The wine trade needs to embrace the independents and cut them some slack when they’re starting out by helping them financially – you can’t always expect cash up-front, McGrath said, adding: “We need them to succeed.â€
For more on the state of wine on the UK high street, see the August issue of the drinks business.
We would love to find the right UK distributors who are keen to sell high quality products to high quality independent wine merchants. We have vowed never to sell to UK supermarkets feeling that everything they sell is on price at the expense of quality. As a small producer of award winning whiskies we want to sell only to those who can tell and who appreciate the difference. Distributors please form an orderly queue at my door…
Surely Simon Baile has just received about £20M of “support” from wine suppliers, landlords, staff and the general public (in the form of his unpaid Duty, VAT and PAYE etc) in the last few months? Given his track record I’m not surprised he isn’t getting supplier support at ExCellar.
And Jamie Hutchinson makes a big fuss about The Sampler buying direct from small growers – small growers, by definition, do not have big marketing budgets. He seems to want to have his cake and eat it.
As an independent importer and distributor of specialist liqueurs, absinthes and eaux de vie would be delighted to form a relationship with like-minded merchants who are fed up with getting bad service from the large distribution chains!