Specialist wine retailer Majestic Wine has reduced the minimum purchase in its stores across the UK from 12 bottles to six. The move follows positive feedback from customers in trials over the last year.
Majestic made its reputation as a warehouse-style operation, selling wine in quantities of at least 12 bottles – thereby avoiding, in theory, the need for an alcohol licence.
“Not everyone always wants to buy a full 12 bottles,” Majestic chief executive Steve Lewis told Drinks International. “We’ve found that a lot of customers have a fixed budget in mind but might buy less bottles.”
In some instances during the trials, said Lewis, customers would buy a six-pack of a favourite wine then add on a couple of bottles of better quality, more expensive wine to spend up to their budget. However, he added: “We do expect many to continue buying 12 bottles.”
Lewis also denied that the new policy would lead to a higher risk of attracting under-age purchasers. “We have high standards of training and will maintain those high standards,” he said. “It’s very easy for us to differentiate genuine customers.”
Majestic stores, he added, are nowadays fully licenced but will never sell by single bottles.
