Lidl boosts frequency of Wine Cellar promos from June

Lidl is ramping up the number of its popular Wine Cellar promotions from four to six a year.

Lidl is boosting the number of Wine Cellar promos to six from June (Photo: Wiki)

The discounter currently runs quarterly promotions but from 2 June these will be expanded, with one running every other month.

It follows Lidl’s announcement in October that it would be boosting its core wine range by around 30% from 60  to around 80 permanent SKUs following the success of the Wine Cellar.

Ben Hulme, who until his recent promotion to International Head of Wine Buying in Germany headed up the UK BWS category, said the increased frequency and impulse of the Wine Cellar events would help broaden Lid’s horizons in terms of its product offering.

“We won’t be resting our laurels,” he told db, “We’ve continued to build momentum, our market share tips 4.3% which is a fair share in the line with Lidl as a supermarket.”

The Wine Cellar promotions were originally launched with eight premium French wines in September 2012, reportedly after a £1m investment, and backed by tasting notes of three MWs. It gained greater momentum after expanding the concept, and in 2014 it rolled out a range of 48 upmarket French wines, developing this throughout 2015 to offer a total of around 250 different wines from different parts of the world – an increase of more than 300% since 2012. Sales grew 38% year-on-year in 2015, the discounter said, casting a “halo” effect across the store.

Speaking to db in January, when it showcased the Spring Wine Cellar promotions, Hulme said there were areas that were still untapped, including the New World and white wine, which he said Lidl under-traded in and was keen to expand. Spirits were another area of “real opportunity”, he said. “The challenge is to take the learnings from Wine Cellar and apply them to the spirits concept, keep innovating and have more products to take into that bay.”

“I hope there is room for us to keep growing.”

The latest wines on promotion with the Wine Cellar last month included English wines from Denbies, Hungarian wines Egri Bikavér from Juhasz, a Kekfrankos from Szekszárdi, Mészáros Pál, a Villányi Cuvée from Polgár Therápia, a Sir Irsai from Etyek-Buda, a Pinot Gris from from Neszmély, Hilltop 2013, a Tokaji Furmint and Tokaji Kesoi Arany Grand Selection 2013 and a selection of New World wines, including three Australian, four South African and one from New Zealand.