Waitrose reports Valentine boost for Crémant

Waitrose has seen sales of alternative French sparkler Crémant rise 20% in the run up to Valentine day, as romantics seek extra value for money.

Waitrose sees Crémant sales fly ahead of Valentine’s day

The upmarket retailer, which over indexes in wine sales, said it has seen alternative sparkling wines grow ahead of the annual festivities.

Rebecca Hull MW, Champagne and sparkling wine buyer at Waitrose said Brits were increasingly moving away from only enjoying Champagne on February 14^th.

“Traditionally, Champagne was seen as the only fizz you should enjoy on Valentine’s Day but now Brits are more willing to try a wider range of sparkling wines,” she said. “Crémant is a great alternative as it is well-priced and well-made. We saw the trend of customers extending their sparkling wine choices last summer when we launched the Italian fizz Pignoletto, which was one of our fastest sellers.”

Hull noted that English sparkling wine was also still in strong growth with no sign of slowing too, with sales up 51%.

This month the retailer also launched a magnum of beer, the first supermarket to do so, after seeing sales of magnums rise 25% year on year. Its IPA Best of British Beer Magnum holds the equivalent of six bottles of ale and retails for £22.

According to retail analysts the IGD, the retailer is set to close six under-performing stores and streamline its store management replacing department manager roles with new deputy store manager role across its 350 UK stores, with around 180 jobs being cut.