Waitrose wine site opens as Morrisons’ closes

UK supermarket Waitrose has launched a new online wine site featuring more than 1,200 wines, as competitor Morrisons  announced it is to close its standalone wine site and incorporate it into its main site.

Waitrose today launched its standalone wine site, Waitrose Cellar, with the aim of growing its online share of the wine UK wine market.

The site will allow customers to mix their own case of six bottles from its range of wines, spirits and champagnes and receive free delivery within three working days.

The service, which replaces Waitrose Wine Direct, includes a “Fine & Rare” range and gives customers the ability to rate purchases.

Robert McCarthy, head of cellar and direct services at Waitrose, said: “Waitrose Cellar will bring a new element to our multi channel offer by allowing customers to receive the wine expertise we are renowned for in our shops from the comfort of their own home. We’ll be offering great value combined with interesting and unusual exclusives, with free delivery on every order.”

Its launch comes as fellow UK supermarket Morrison’s announced it was to close its standalone wine site, Morrisons Cellar, following its launch in 2012.

Instead, the online wine shop will be incorporated into the supermarket’s main grocery site from June, which launched in January.

Steve Mosey, category director for beers, wines and spirits at Morrisons, said the change was the “next logical step” to provide customers with a one-stop shop for all of their online wine and groceries.

He said: “As we look to continually improve our online wine proposition, we have taken the decision to combine Morrisonscellar.com with our industry leading grocery site Morrisons.com which launched earlier this year.

“This move will take effect from June 2014 and is the logical next step to provide our customers with a one-stop shop for all of their online wine and groceries.

“Our online wine range will continue to provide great quality at key price points thanks to the tremendous strides taken by our new wine sourcing team.  The Taste Test, which helps guide customers in an approachable way towards wines to suit their personal preferences, will remain core to our online wine offer.”

Morrisons is releasing its Q1 results tomorrow. (8 May)