Majestic toasts half-year success

Published: 16 November, 2009

Majestic's new strategy of allowing customers to buy six bottles instead of full cases has paid off, according to the wine retailer's latest figures.

Chairman Steve Burke said: "We have seen a small reduction in average spend that has been more than compensated by an increase in transaction volume. We have also seen an increase in the number of new customers registering on our database."

The strategy was spurred by tough trading conditions, which have also contributed to a fall-off in corporate sales in the half-year to September 28.

Burke said: "Sales to private customers continue to show strong growth, up 8.9% in the period.

"In contrast, economic conditions continue to affect businesses adversely and sales to these customers have declined 6.9%.

"The average bottle price of still wine sold in Majestic is now £6.41 up from £6.19 last year. We have seen a slight reduction in the average spend per transaction from £135 to £133 as a result of the decline in sales to business customers."

Majestic's pre-tax profits rose by 9% to £6.1 million over the period, while like for like sales increased by 5.4%.

Burke praised the contribution the Lay & Wheeler acquisition was making to the business and also reported that online sales had risen by almost 25%.

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