At the imposing M&S HQ in Paddington a more relaxed affair was waiting inside where the M&S Autumn tasting showcased 23 new wines, with the retailer seeking to keep its offer fresh.
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Georgian wine has shown positive momentum in UK supermarkets, with a 200% sales increase seen at M&S in 2024 and increased distribution at Waitrose too.
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Bibendum Off Trade continues to play a significant role in the off-trade sector, building on its established presence in the supermarket wine market with 16 new wine listings at Tesco.
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James Bayley looks at how the Euros look set to influence consumer spending patterns to the benefit of the UK trade.
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Weather has overtaken inflation as the primary driver of UK grocery sales growth in May, according to new data from NIQ. Total till sales at UK supermarkets grew by 3.3% for the four weeks ending 18 May 2024. This growth was fueled by shifts between wet and warm weather, which pushed value growth at supermarkets to 5.1%, a two-month high excluding Easter.
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Discounter Aldi has lost its appeal against a High Court ruling which found it had copied the design of Marks & Spencer’s light-up Christmas gin bottles.
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Canned wine producer, The Uncommon, has secured £1.2m in private backing, focusing on scaling up production of its English wine to meet growing demand in alternative formats.
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Some supermarkets reported buoyant sales over the festive period. James Bayley crunches the numbers.
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Supermarkets are reporting a consistent uptick in sales of this much-talked about category– and not just during the traditional post-festive period. James Bayley reports.
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Despite record spend on groceries during Christmas in UK supermarkets, sales of beer, wine and spirits were all in decline over the same period.
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It’s been a decade since Georgian wine hit UK lists. Michael Karam charts the hype, the reality and the what next?
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Twelve months on from announcing its ‘wine transformation’ exclusively to Harpers, M&S and its new-look range is starting to take shape. James Bayley reports.
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Prosecco continues to build momentum in the UK and power onwards on a global scale. Lucy Shaw looks at the trends that continue to revitalise this seemingly invincible category.
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Amazon has already moved into the grocery sector but is now upping its game with a range of own-label wines, finds James Bayley.
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With sustainability such a broad concept, how do retailers communicate the message? Angela Mount asks those at the sharp end.
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M&S is on a mission to offer “the most exciting wine range on the planet”. James Bayley catches up with head of BWS Andrew Shaw to find out more.
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In a Harpers exclusive, Andrew Shaw, head of BWS at M&S revealed plans to create the “most exciting wine range on the planet.”
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Retail can sometimes feel like the centre of the world in business. It joins customer to distributor and producer, as arbiter of supply and demand. This is particularly true in the wine trade, where its gatekeepers provide a vital entry point into an often obscure product category. However, in this new era of hyper sustainability sensitivity, retail has a less obvious – if equally important – role to play, with less power over sustainability related goals than some might think.
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The pandemic years have shown a marked alteration in the fundamental patterns of shopping. During the first lockdown, there was a noticeable shift to more local shopping, as consumers strove to minimise contact with others. Today it would appear this trend has embedded itself in the very mindset of the average shopper, with convenience stores now accounting for 28.9% of UK grocery shopping.
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Yves Fourcade, senior wine buyer at M&S, has passed away after 35 years at the heart of the supermarket’s buying team.
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