Roberson slashes fine wine prices

Published: 12 May, 2011

London wine merchant Roberson has become the latest retailer to shake up how it sells fine wine ? it will now offer wines over £100 at "eye-wateringly competitive" wholesale prices in its Kensington store.

Mark Andrew, senior buyer at Roberson, told Harpers that the web had made wine pricing much more transparent, since customers could find wholesale prices before retailers' mark-ups were applied. He said the newly reduced prices become "eye-wateringly competitive" when you look at what some rivals are charging ? the price per bottle on some top chateaux are more than £1,000 cheaper. A bottle of 1996 Chateau Lafite will retail at £1,430; the same bottle is on sale around the corner at Harrods for £2,695. Its 1989 Chateau Petrus is on sale at £3,080 while a 2000 Lynch-Bages will be available at £155.

"We can compete with wholesale merchants offering service on completely different plains. We've got 350 wines listed in store, and a stock holding of 500 to 800. Customers can peruse our wine collection, and staff are on-hand to ask questions."

To coincide with the revised pricing structure, the Kensington store has been refurbished to open up its fine wine section, previously housed in a 'cage'.

Back in February London restaurant group D&D slashed the mark-ups on top-end bottles to offer customers fairer prices on fine wines ? the cuts apply to around 2,000 wines listed at over £50.

In the last two to three years the Roberson team has doubled in size to over 20 people, and interviews are taking place for three more new staff.

"The business is growing at a rate of knots, the last financial year our turnover tripled on the previous year."

In terms of the agency side of the business, it has built a list of around 50 domaines, mostly from France, in the last 12 months. "The focus of the project is to discover young, artisanal growers, that share our ethos and quality standards," added Andrew.

Online retail sales are up 88% on last year. Following its website overhaul, Andrew says the firm was "transformed overnight into a national merchant".

It has also opened a trade only website in English and Mandarin.