Mary Portas OBE urges drinks trade to sell joy, not stuff
In an impassioned speech yesterday in London, ‘Queen of Shops’ Mary Portas OBE told the drinks trade that people no longer want “palaces of stuff”, they want “sensory experiences, stories, and moments of joy”.
Addressing attendees at the WSTA annual conference, where she was the keynote speaker, Portas admitted that in this current post-consumerist era, “we are going through most difficult time I have ever seen in business.”
Such a period, she said, “requires creativity, not necessarily huge investments,” added Portas, who is a highly influential British retail expert, broadcaster, and author, known as the ‘Queen of Shops’.
“It’s creative ideas that move forward businesses,” stated Portas, who rose to prominence by transforming Harvey Nichols into an international fashion icon, and has spent over three decades advising global brands and leading her creative consultancy agency, Portas.
Sell joy, not stuff
Asked to advise the wine and spirits trade on how to deal with declining drinks consumption, and anti-alcohol sentiment from lobby groups and the media, she urged the industry to stop thinking about how to sell to people and start thinking about how to connect with how they’re feeling. She said that the question should not be “how do I shift product?” but “where am I selling joy?”
Reclaim a positioning around pleasure
Continuing, she said that rather than playing defence against health headlines, the industry should confidently own the “joy” positioning. Her Blue Zones argument would be her weapon: communities that live to 100 drink wine daily – it’s the socialising, the ritual, the connection. She also said that the “lipstick effect” framing is useful too – in tough economic times, affordable pleasures survive. Wine can be that daily ritual, the PM equivalent of a great morning coffee, according to Portas.
Understand cultural rhythms
As for cost-of-living pressures, she said that this does not mean people stop spending – they mean people become selective about where they spend. You have to earn your place on that shortlist, she said. By way of example, she commented that both Nike and JD Sports know exactly who their customer is and what excites them and, as a result, they are growing in market share. The wine trade needs the same clarity, according to Portas.
Sensory experiences are key
Fortnum’s ‘biscuitorium’, Daunts bookshop, Pret a Manger were all cited by Portas as businesses with longevity because they are the ones that made you feel something. The Cotswolds wine shop she loves has jazz, tastings in the centre of the floor, something to eat alongside, while a Tasmanian wine bar sold her on Pinot Noir just by being a joyful place to discover it. These aren’t huge capital investments, she stated, they’re creative choices.
Look outside your own industry
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According to Portas, the book trade’s response to Amazon is an instructive case study: publishers made books beautiful, bookshops focused on knowledge and atmosphere. Independent wine retail should ask the same question – “what can Amazon not do?” The answer, she said, is sensory experience, genuine expertise, personality and human connection.
The drinks trade is too male
She was blunt on the topic of women in the wine and spirits industry, commenting that it’s a male-dominated trade in a culturally-sensitive moment. In her view, the audience for wine and spirits is broad; the people telling its story often aren’t. That’s a missed opportunity, particularly given how well the beauty and wellness industries – which speak to feeling and self-care – are performing.
Social media is underused
Personality-driven independent businesses have been built through social media, according to Portas. The wine trade has genuine wit, intelligence and heritage to work with, but she said that she was yet to really see this on social media. She’d find someone who can carry that voice and use it boldly, rather than sitting in the middle of the road (where, as she put it, you get run over).
Open when your customers are there
Another missed opportunity cited by Portas concerned a wine shop in her neighbourhood of Primrose Hill. This specialist wine retailer is closed on Friday and Sunday evenings, while everyone walks past it on the way to get drunk in this part of London, with its far-reaching views. Understanding the rhythms of when and how people want to engage with your business is foundational – and often free to fix, she said.
The product still has to be great
Everything else only works if the underlying product is good, she stressed. But once it is, the job is getting it into people’s lives in a way that feels natural and meaningful – the way Guinness did, or the way kale did (mysteriously, “as it’s no better for you than broccoli”). “You’re not just selling a bottle; you’re selling yourself into someone’s daily rituals”, she said.
Her overarching message was that the wine and spirits industry is one with an extraordinary raw material — heritage, craft, sensory richness, and social ritual — but it too often communicates like a commodity trade. In her view, the businesses that will thrive are those that lead with feeling and stories, as well as the ones that focus on “selling joy”.
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