Majestic Wine has scrapped its minimum six-bottle purchase as new chief executive Rowan Gormley seeks to lure back customers to the ailing chain.
Britain’s biggest specialist wine retailer said that from Tuesday customers would be able to buy single bottles in store and online. It also promised clearer prices after customers said the offers were too complicated.
Majestic said it had experimented with allowing single-bottle purchases at some stores over the past few months and the change had proved popular with new and existing customers.
In a move towards clearer pricing, if customers buy any six bottles of wine or spirits before Christmas they will get at least 10% off and up to 33% off. Majestic will also offer free delivery and glass hire and a full refund if customers are not satisfied with a product.
Abandoning the minimum purchase is a big move for Majestic, which sold wines by the case when it was launched in 1980 from a warehouse in Wood Green, north London. When the minimum purchase was halved to six bottles in 2009 it was popular but Gormley said the rule was out of date amid fierce competition.
He said: “Our customers were telling us that they wanted simpler, clearer pricing, and an end to the six-bottle minimum. There are now no barriers to shopping at Majestic, the pricing structure is very straightforward and I’m sure our customers will see this as a great move.”
Gormley took over running Majestic in April when the company bought his Naked Wines online business after poor Christmas trading capped a run of disappointing results. Majestic has been under pressure from supermarkets using wine promotions to attract customers from each other and fight off the German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
In June, Gormley said Majestic had suffered from cost-cutting, outdated computer systems and a forbidding image caused by the minimum purchase, complicated offers and stores stacked with wine cases. He said it would take three years to revive the business.
