They've been trialling it, but now its official and in all stores wef 27 Oct.


http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... le-minimum

I think MW will be bust within two years. The tie up with Naked Wines ( mostly plonk mis-sold as fine wine by pushy excitable sales spin/staff ) put me off them. I notice some NW style sales garbage being attached to a lot of online reviews.

Tis a shame as MW have some wonderful staff but Naked will turn them into another Thresher's....' 3 for 2 on Oyster Bay, sir......go on you know you want to.....tastes of crushed caviar and champagne so it does.....recommended by Oz Clarke, God and Basil Brush '

I fear you're right...

OTOH the supermarkets are severly pruning their lists and cutting the number of lines they're carrying. They'll be keeping the Blossom Hill type wines so it'll be the more interetsing ones that wil go.

It was the supermarkets that affected Majestic, so they may be able to keep their niche.

I was disappointed to see that they've started their own label though.

http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/naked-revisited

Jancis is not unkind to NW. For me they shout far too loud about far too little. MW's Definition range looks similar to Thresher's old regional classic range. No producers names is odd.

I actually hope Maj prove me wrong ....I just can't see it.

The first time that I went into a Maj., I took 2 nice bottles to the till. Were around £12 / 14 per bottle many yrs ago.
They insisted that I buy 12, so I left swearing never to use them again.

Aldi and 'Fortnum's' have improved massively though I still rarely visit.

_________________
Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

The producer's name is in small print on Definition's back label, the NZ Savvy is 'produced and bottled by Marisco Vineyards' and is appellation Waihopai Valley, Marlborough.

Marisco is Brett (The Ned) Marris's company. So has good parentage of both grapes and maker.

However, under the Definition brand and non specific front label, the supplier can change from vintage to vintage, batch to batch, and may change to bulk-shipped, allowing Majestic to source from whoever is offering the best deal at the time -- which is the advantage for the owner of these own brand labels

Indeed, most of us had received the Gormley email by Tuesday Lunchtime. The offer business is generally hotting up in this mid season slowdown. Who is calling for more volume? Somebody's worried. . . . .

STWC & Laithwaites started a 7 days of offers campaign on Sunday morning, the daily deals ending at 12:00 the next day. The Lidl clearance may have filtered through to top level.
We don’t know what Tesco stocking levels of fine wines may be (may be very high, cos they are quite expensive) and their multi case deal with no extra discount was a no no. Tesco appear to be going mainstream to get volume back. Wirra Wirra church block at £60 a half case is not that exciting, last time it was dull at £42 a half.

As we know, Rowan Gormley was CEO of Naked Wines, before Majestic acquired them ! Majestic at board level did not have a candidate willing to take the top job, with the risks involved. Gormley has had his feet under the table for a good while now.
Gormley says extra staff at Christmas.

T'is a shame as MW have some wonderful staff but Naked will turn them into another Thresher's.

So, new employees under 21 who are taken on zero hours contracts, for them, the company will not have to pay Company NIC contributions. If they work long hours, or when required, that can pay. 50% more 'extra employees' than last year, that could actually be 50% more of very little ! They must have a full driving licence I suspect.

Nevertheless, Gormley has stuck his neck above the parapet! We'll see and I'll follow their share price, just to see if volume market share, but at less margin makes a big difference to the views of city analysts.
Click and YOU collect is not going to cost them, more foot fall - but at busy times though, could be a damn nuisance. . . . . . . .

Like Mr G, whilst I don't have any evidence other than hearsay (I never bought from NW, nor bothered to look in there), somehow I just don't have a lot of faith in him. Majestic was always a steady ship, but now, Gormley may have torn the stabilisers off a tried and tested, and fairly mature model!

_________________
Duncan

Just had some Maj 'Definitions' being on offer for a short time.

The MSB is Brett Marris based, under the blanket of 'Marisco'

Marisco also produce the 'Favours' series and others.

_________________
Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.