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Aldi boosts online offer with new wines
Aldi has boosted its online wine range, as it admitted it was still “tweaking” the offer following feedback.
The discounter showcased nearly 40 wines that are exclusive to the online range at its tasting this week, including a £16.99 Chateau Tour de Pez, St Estephe, and a Chateau Pindelfleurs, St Emilion Grand Cru (RRP: £15.99) and La Sogara Amarone. Around twenty are new to the range, which launched with 90 wines, with Aldi aiming to keep the online offering at around 110-20 wines.
Aldi’s head buyer Mike James told the drinks business it was still early days, but the launch of the site had gone very well.
“At this stage it has only just launched but we are getting good feedback, which is where online lives and breathes,” he said. “But we are tweaking things and plugging gaps and ensuring we don’t run out. We are gearing up to make a big thing of the online offer.”
E-commerce gave the discounter greater freedom from the restrictions of shelf space, he noted,- and it is already around 25% larger than its in-store range, as well as the opportunity to bring back wines that had proved particularly popular, but for which there isn’t shelf space across the bricks and mortar estate.
“The range online is different to the store offer, as it includes what we think will work online – so we have culled fortifieds, low-abv, and anything that isn’t a 75cl bottle for example,” James explained. “We can also add a lot of seasonal wines online and continue to sell those all year round, for example a Chablis or Sancerre which are seen as ‘Christmas’ wines – as we don’t have the same restrictions online.”
“From a buyer power and economies of scale point of view, if a wine is great for online, that perhaps we can also put in store, albeit in a more limited way. So we could have 45,000 bottles in store, and 50,000 online – which means we can invest in decent design and can get [better] cost [savings].”
He also noted the opportunity to appeal to new customers as the market data suggests in-store wines don’t necessary fit the same profile as wines wanted by the average online customer.
“It is important to us that we constantly develop our offering in order to meet the demands of Aldi’s ever expanding customer base.”
“Looking at the market, it would suggest in store the biggest seller is Australia, but there market data says France online. How would it work online? Maybe we need to beef up France – but maybe Aldi is just not a ‘French’ shop? It is an evolving feast, like buying for shop, you can never rest on your laurels,” he said.
It is also rolling out more wines under its Lot Series into stores, which are already available online, including the Lot Series Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at £9.99, a Lot Series Metarie de Bose Corbiere, a Minervoise La Liviniere and a Gres de Montpellier from winemaker Jean-Claude Mas.
The discounter is also beefing up its beer offering with the launch of sixteen regional UK beers, which will be going on shelf as seasonal ‘specialbuys’ nationwide from 29th May as part of a new ‘Beer Festival’ in the summer. It includes beers from the Robinsons Brewery, Joseph Holt, Moorhouse, Black Sheer Brewery, Arundel, Box Steam Brewery and Felinfoel.
It is also upping the focus on cocktail, as the trends shows no sign of cooling, with the addition of six new fruit cocktail liqueurs, and two single-serve frozen cocktails coolers. The new lines will be available from 25th August under its Specially Selected brand, and includes a Blue Curacao cocktail liqueur, a crème de framboise, a liqueur de lychee, and a crème de peche cocktail liqueur.
The retailer announced it was to move into online sales last year with the launch of its wine-by-the case site, and launched its online range towards the end of January.
Online wine sales account for around 11% of the UK market, but are predicted to rise to around 15% by 2018, according to the Wilsons Drinks Report (WDR), a unique project that collects and analyses ePOS data from the majority of the leading specialist online BWS retailers.
To find out more about the key trends and growth opportunities within beers, wines and spirits retailing, download a copy of the latest WDR report here.