NEWS

Corks popping for Virgin Wines

Online retailer Virgin Wines saw a record weekly sale last week - selling more than £1m worth of wine in seven days.

The Norwich-based firm sold in the region of 20,000 cases and saw a 20pc increase in sales compared to the same week last year.

Last night Virgin Wines managing director Jay Wright said he expected further record-breaking performance in weeks up to Christmas and New Year.

Virgin Wines employs 70 staff at its base in Whitefriars and Mr Wright predicted that the firm would post an increase in turnover to £25m this year.

“The business has been growing in terms of the number of customers joining Virgin Wines over the last 12 months quite substantially,” Mr Wright said.

“On top of that we've spent a lot of time on concentrating on retaining those customers and reactivating customers who may have lapsed at some point.

“Basically, we've been putting together a firm model where we make sure we give customers great service and great wines - real boutique wines from independent winemakers who make their wines with real passion rather than the mass-produced mega-brands you see on the supermarket shelves.

“People are still drinking, still want to buy, but they want value and they want to be discerning and Virgin has positioned itself in a good place to make sure we catch customers.”

The firm revealed earlier this year that it had recruited its 500,000th customer.

Mr Wright added that while it was “easy to get new customers on fantastic deals”, Virgin Wines' success in recent months had been to increase repurchasing by existing customers.

“Being part of the online sector is obviously a benefit,” he said.

“If there's one retail sector that is doing well at the moment, it's online. So we're positioned well through the medium we sell through as well.”