New head of buying at Majestic

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 21 June, 2017

Majestic Wine has announced that a new head of buying will step into the role recently vacated by Matt Pym.

Cat Lomax will now oversee wine buying at the company with immediate effect.

Lomax has played a crucial role in developing Majestic’s own-label Majestic Loves range since starting as senior buyer in May 2016, the company said.

She will now head up own brand, which accounts for 4.7% of Majestic’s sales, and sits at the heart of Majestic’s three-year transformation plan.

Last week, the company reiterated that it was on target to reach its three year-goal of £500 million in sales by 2019.

In its full-year reported profit before tax, Majestic said it had got through the difficult part of its plan with a loss of £1.5 million, which was offset by a 15.8% rise in sales and 12% growth in the company’s customer base to 825,000 active customers.

The company ran into trouble in September 2016 when it issued a profit warning, after a costly campaign to grow its Naked Wines online business in the US failed to deliver.

However, sales growth of 26% at Naked Wines have subsequently boosted Majestic’s bottom line.

As Lomax now looks to take the buying team forward, she said that her experience of seeking out parcels of wine will work well with Majestic’s own approach to buying.

“I’ve had great success in securing parcels of wine, whether big, like our recent Parcel Series Sauvignon Blanc, or small, like Waimea’s first UK retailing Albarino. It’s a perfect fit to Majestic’s new way of operating,” she said.

Her past experience includes working for Waitrose and Direct Wines.

At Majestic, she will also continue to oversee responsibilities as buyer for New Zealand, (Majestic puts its share at 14% in this market), as well as key French regions and the USA.

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