Morrisons wants to increase wine sales by £100m
Morrisons claims it has a minimum extra £100 million in sales to be gained from the wine category alone if it maximises its full potential, according to Steve Mosey, trading director for beers, wines and spirits.
In a wide ranging interview in today's Harpers Mosey sets out his vision for Morrisons' wine offer ahead of the official unveiling of a major overhaul to its own label range to the trade on October 9.
The new own label wines are the culmination of much of the work that has been going on behind the scenes since Mosey took control of the BWS department two years ago. In that time the buying and trading teams have been split so that one section looks after sourcing, and wine development and the other half looks after buying, negotiating and trade relations.
Morrisons is looking to introduce over 110 own label wines split over three key ranges including two new entry level propositions that target consumers who want to buy wines still under £5 and a premium selection, M Signature, that starts at £5 and goes up to £15 to make it easier for customers to trade up.
"We have made a massive investment and I am really excited about it. I think it is a huge step change away from where we were," said Mosey.
In today's exclusive Harpers interview Mosey is highly critical of the department he took over and why it over traded in beers and spirits, but under traded in wine.
"In the past there was belief that was down to the fact we are a northern based retailer, but frankly that is a load of rubbish. We are a broad based UK multiple and have a similar propensity on wines as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's," said Mosey.
"We had some glaring errors, and some big gaps"
"We had some glaring errors, and some big gaps and were not doing ourselves any favours," he added.
"We have had customers in our stores, but they have not simply trusted our wine offer to date," he added.
That is why so much is now riding on the new own label range. Or as Mosey puts it:
"Would you really trust someone who does not put their name on the bottle?"
In his Harpers interview, Mosey sets out how he has looked to turn the category around and now claims it has "grown ahead of the market for the last two years".
But he also concedes it has a lot of catching up to. But get it right and the prize is there to be had.
"We still have the greatest untapped potential for wine here. We have a £100 million opportunity to utilise our fair share in wine," he claims based on what wine would be if it matched its overall share in grocery.
Like-for-like wine sales, for example, in its fresh format stores are up 6%.
· Next week on Harpers.co.uk you will be able to read a comprehensive analysis of Morrisons' new trading structure with interviews with senior managers and buyers across its key trading teams, along with an extended interview with Steve Mosey.
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