Tesco invests in online Fine Wine

Tesco’s online Fine Wine range is increasing by more than 300% following a successful trial with 50 lines last year.

The retailer added that the internet is a more practical and effective method of selling wines such as Grange, Cristal and Château Palmer, compared to in stores.

The updated Fine Wine range at Tesco, which will be available from 1 November, will come in cases of six or 12 and will have an average bottle price of £31.28.

Tesco confirmed at last week’s autumn press tasting that the decision to increase the Fine Wine range by more than 200 lines is in response to the “phenomenal” customer support for the original 50 lines.

Fine wine buyer for the supermarket, Freyja Kenny, told the drinks business: “The Fine Wines sold with no real marketing last year, so due to the success of this we’re extending the range to meet the obvious demand for these wines.”

The wines which will available next month include Grange 2003 (£255 per bottle), Château Palmer 2001 (£110), Cristal NV (£145) and Tignanello 2001 (£95).

Kenny added that selling fine wine online rather than in store is logistically more practical due to the (usually) smaller quantities of fine wine that’s produced.

She added: “We need huge distribution to be able to list wines in all the stores and it’s a dynamic, rotating range. Just because we list one vintage of something, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll choose it again the next year.

Graham Nash, product development manager for Tesco, added: “Suppliers look at the Tesco scale and assume we’re only interested in high volume lines, but we now have a variety of ways to sell: through stores, dotcom and the Tesco Wine by the Case mailings, allowing us to be flexible.”

The full range of wines will be available on www.tesco.com/wine

Jane Parkinson, 18.10.2010