Virgin sets sights on record Christmas

Virgin Wines is preparing for what it predicts will be a bumper Christmas for online wine sales.

The company expects thirsty Brits to order around two million bottles of wine this December, a 33% increase on 2014 and 80 extra staff have been called in to cope with the projected demand.

Prosecco is expected to be a huge category again this Christmas. Last year sales went up 170% and this festive season should be bigger – volumes are already up 22,000 bottles compared to where they were at this point in 2014.

Furthermore, Virgin expects Chianti and Sherry to be big sellers, the former because of its lighter, more delicate profile which is giving it a boost as consumers move further away from big, oaky reds, while the latter has seen 16% year-on-year sales increases and Virgin has also extended its Port range to capitalise on the taste for fortified.

Jay Wright, Virgin Wines CEO, said: “We are expecting Christmas 2015 to be our biggest trading period in our history. With more shoppers turning to the convenience of online to prepare for the festive season, expectations are high. We’re expecting to sell an additional 40,000 cases of wine due to the growth in both our core business and the seasonal effect on our gift business.

“Consumers are increasingly shopping last-minute; the few days before the festivities will be very busy. We’re allowing our customers to place their order as late as 21 December to guarantee delivery ahead of Christmas Day.

“We’ve also made sure we can offer customers the same outstanding levels of service we pride ourselves on by employing 80 temporary staff to cope with the influx in orders.”