Looking Back, Forging Ahead Q&A: Nic Rezzouk, Reserve Wines

By Harpers Editorial team

Published: 06 January, 2025

Next up in our end of year trade talking heads is Nic Rezzouk, buyer at Reserve Wines, as he reflects on remaining competitive on a challenging environment.

What have you put in place to maximise Christmas trading and what are the early indications so far?

We have invested a lot in our website design and digital marketing across all items, including SEO, emails, organic and paid search, plus social media, User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) UI/UX…even TikTok for alcohol free and accessories.

We also introduced a 15% off everything discount on an extended Black Friday campaign which was a success, leading to an 18% increase YOY.

We have also invested a lot in our logistics and fulfilment position so as to process online orders quicker, safer, more accurate and better.

We have updated and trained our teams on all the key products for the Christmas period.

So far this year, we have seen a tiny bit of growth which we do not take for granted. The next three weeks are all out to play, but we’re probably more ready than ever to make the best of it.

What, for you, were the specific highs of 2024?

Our big items this year have all been in the background.

Wine Paris in February (my first event of that scale)
Warehouse racking, forklift and a new goods in/goods out processes
Seeing our online performance sustainably creeping up every week
Updating our stock and range management system (it is still spreadsheet based, but much more capable)

And the lows?

The Budget and the government’s decision to ignore food & drink retail and on-trade and not prolong the duty easement. What a blow.

How have the specific challenges of this year contributed to wider drinks trends?

For us, wine as a whole category spanning retail and on-premise is slowly trending down, even if it’s by far the biggest contributor to our revenue. Within that, orange (skin contact-ish) wine has performed really well. No, and a little bit of low, has been increasing too, not drastically but notably. People are asking about it more and more, and are tentatively trying. More and more products are coming out of the works to try and tap into this early market. In the on-trade, cocktails and spritzes are on the up. People want more fun, less stuffy things but they don’t want it to hurt too much the next day. Consumers are still cautious spenders as well.

We feel we have the balance about right between commercial/mass appeal options and more specific, authentic products to gently keep people coming back for their next hit. There is still a sense that good wine is valued and appreciated, there is just more temperance in the behaviour and a bit less cash to spend on these non-mandatory treats.

With the duty easement likely to end in February, how are you looking to mitigate the impact of rising duty on business?

We will create a heat map of sales against alcohol levels and see where our revenues are against this metric. We were planning on consolidating our range further to help with processing efficiencies and concentrating volume sales further so this might influence where the cull takes place. We might bring forward a bit of stock in January but only on a couple of volume lines where it makes sense. The rest will consist of repricing everything and again look at where our products end up with their rrps. Then we will have to see if that makes sense for our customers, while their perception of value once again adjusts to the new reality.

As a business, what positives are you looking forward to in 2025?

Redoubling efforts into finding new efficiency gains. Applying smarter range strategies and deploying more high-quality content to increase our connection with our community of customers. Finding new ways to grow and thrive which includes premiumising our offering and the customer experience.

Quick fire questions:

Ultimate turkey pairing wine?

South African Chenin Blanc

Ultimate wine turkey?

19 Crimes

Most overrated spirit?

Macallan

Most underrated spirit?

Deanston 12

Chardonnay or Riesling?

Chardonnay

Port or sherry?