Crowning glory

Majestic takes press darling title from Oddbins tobecome this month’s favourite flavour

MAKING money in the wine business is not supposed to be easy, hence the old joke: how do you make a small fortune in wine? Answer: start with a large fortune.  However, in a remarkably consistent defiance of conventional wisdom, the Majestic Wine Warehouses retail chain has not only managed to make money out of selling wine, but it has done so while other multiple specialists have fallen on hard times.

Amazingly, Majestic has also managed to keep the hard-bitten financial analysts of the City happy.  It looks like 2005 will be no different: sales up 10% year-on-year for the nine weeks to January 3, and dominance of the press coverage of wine in January, grabbing one in seven mentions overall, nearly twice its annual average.

A lot of ink in the business press has already been devoted to the Majestic success story. If one looks beyond the raw "mentions" Wine Intelligence tracked in January and sample the tone of them, it’s significant to note the general high regard that opinion-formers hold for this wine chain. This does not arise by magic.

Perhaps it’s a professional, consistent approach to public relations (which as any PR can tell you is a lot easier to say than actually do); or maybe it’s the fact that most Majestic shop staff appear to be reasonably happy in their jobs, knowledgeable and motivated.

Whatever the answer, it looks as if the chain is on course to overtake Oddbins (see chart) as the official multiple specialist darling of the wine critics during 2005. 

About this research and Wine Intelligence

This analysis is brought to you by Wine Intelligence, a research-led marketing consultancy specialising in the wine industry.

The company is staffed by experienced wine industry and research professionals and provides research and consulting services to leading producers, importers, retailers and trade  organisations.

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