THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 111, March 2022
Dog of the Month: Peppercorn Selected Grapes, Bridport
Upbeat independents say: our sales continue to boom Survey of more than 200 businesses finds that, two years after Covid’s arrival, confidence is at a four-year high
T
wo years on from the start of the Covid crisis, independent wine merchants are continuing to
report buoyant sales figures.
Three in 10 indies say their annual sales
are “much higher” than they were a year
ago, with almost four in 10 saying turnover is “a little higher”.
The Wine Merchant’s annual reader
survey, carried out in partnership
with Hatch Mansfield, also found that
confidence about the year ahead has hit a four-year high – despite concerns about the economy, and the impact that Brexit
has had on wine imports (reported in our
pre-pandemic level of 47% of businesses.
appear to have had a lasting impact on
at just over 40%.
February edition).
Some aspects of 2020’s lockdowns
the ways indies operate. Online sales have traditionally accounted for something
like 5% of the sector’s turnover, but this
has increased to 11%, while walk-in trade has declined to just over half of revenue.
Almost three-quarters of indies now have a website that’s geared up for e-commerce. The trend towards selling drinks for
on-premise consumption, which was
derailed by Covid, has not recovered to its
Only about half of revenue comes from walk-in custom
Now the proportion of indies operating the hybrid wine shop/wine bar model stands The average price of a bottle of wine
in the independent trade has soared
from £13.69 to £15.10, way ahead of the off-trade average of £6.35. But average
transaction values have fallen from £56.85 to £52.61 as consumers see less need to bulk buy than they did in 2020.
• Sixteen pages of survey analysis starts on page 24.
