News

WSTA creates new membership for indies

18 September 2024 By Arabella Mileham

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has launched a new membership tier aimed at the independent retail sector, it has announced.

The new WSTA independent merchant (individual) membership is targeting indies with a turnover of under £2.5 million, which it says will cater for smaller businesses that have maybe only one or two premises as well as an online sales channel. Annual subscription is £250 plus VAT, although retailers who sign up by the end of September will get an extra three months subscription for free.

Included in the membership is access to condensed market reports and support and advice on lobbying, which the WSTA says will make it easier for businesses to operate in the retail sector, as well as a quarterly surgery with a panel of WSTA experts. Other benefits include practical tools such as an online duty calculator and a fortnightly newsletter to keep indies abreast of any upcoming changes and an online video resource library.

It comes after the WSTA stepped up its engagement with the independent sector, working with former Co-op wine boss Simon Cairns to bring the concerns of the independents to the table, which included launching survey to gauge the exact impact that the end of duty easement will have on independent retailers across the UK.

Currently, the temporary ‘easement’, which sees drinks with an abv of 11.5% and 14.5% taxed at the same rate, is due to end on January 31, 2025. At that point, the full range of tax bands on duty will kick in, resulting in with 64 bands across the largest bracket (8.5%–15%) and around 200 overall.

“We need to be able to quantify [the impact],” Cairns told retailers at the London Wine Fair as he called on the sector to unify. “We have a think about the impact and put that in pounds, shillings, and pence, as that will carry more weight.”

The WSTA has also reiterated its call for indies to write to their MPs to highlight the impact of the upcoming February 2025 duty change. Miles Beale previously noted that with around 1,000 independent merchants around the UK, “if every single MP heard from them, they’d know there was an issue.”