Distell looks to increase market share in the UK

By Erin Smith

Published: 05 May, 2016

South African wine and spirits conglomerate Distell is focusing on expanding its market share in the UK according to Joseph Walsh the commercial director UK & Ireland.

He said: "We have identified the UK as being one of the key global markets for Distell. It is a mature market, it is a competitive market and everybody wants to play in the UK. I think there is still some major opportunities out there. We have never really played in the UK like we should have for a company our size. We currently have only about 4% share of the South African category is not acceptable on my watch. We should be in double digit at least, given the resources we have, the capabilities we have and the portfolio that we can offer."

Walsh said the company is looking at expanding its sales and marketing team to help drive the expansion

"There was a mindset change. I wrote a strategy for the UK in September of last year and I identified that we were under-resourced in terms of headcount. One of the biggest challenges I needed to address immediately is to increase the sales capability and increase our marketing support as we grow.

Also Distell will now hold stock in the UK to make the premium wines that Distell produces more easily accessible for customers who want to order smaller volumes.

"The stock is in the UK now and arrived at the end of April. From the 1st of April Burn Stewart became integrated and will now be known as Distell. Distell international will now have a UK stock hold. If our current customers like the FOB model they can still deliver on the FOB. If they want to deliver on a duty paid deliver price we can dot hat now in the UK. That opens a whole new customer base for us. It gives us quicker lead times and allows us to have dedicated customer service team in the UK," said Walsh.

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