Sainsbury's has slashed the amount of wine it sells on promotion and boosted sales following a major wine aisle revamp, The Grocer can reveal.
In May, it divided the fixture into separate sections called Our Cellar, Case Deals, New Arrivals and edited selection Everyday Favourites. Since then, shoppers had found the aisle easier to navigate, said senior wine buyer Julian Dyer, and this had allowed it to reduce the number of deals it offered.
Because shoppers were no longer confronted by a "blank wall of wine", they were able to quickly make informed choices and were less influenced by promotions, claimed Dyer.
He wouldn't be drawn on the extent to which promotional activity had been scaled back but said that the Everyday Favourites section, which grouped wines based on style rather than producer or country, had seen a particularly significant cut.
Reducing reliance on promotions was healthier for the long-term value of the wine category than continually "turning up the promotional dial, because God knows where that will end", said Dyer.
The revamp has also driven sales, he said, citing a 30% uplift for entry-level wines, which were now branded 'House' wines.
"Having the House wines all together in our Everyday Favourites section has really worked," said Dyer of the range, which comprises 25 wine varietels 15 that were already stocked and 10 new.
"We've been astonished how well that's landed. It's helping us drive down promotional participation overall because we're finding the displays are engaging consumers in a more easy-to-understand way.
The House label was meant to appeal predominantly to novice or established drinkers who didn't want to spend a lot and had a limited repertoire," he said. "But actually it has attracted people across all the knowledge spectrum."
As part of the restructure in May, Sainsbury's reduced its total number of wines from 680 to 600 by "taking out duplication," which had also made the fixture more easy for consumers to navigate, said the retailer.
In May, it divided the fixture into separate sections called Our Cellar, Case Deals, New Arrivals and edited selection Everyday Favourites. Since then, shoppers had found the aisle easier to navigate, said senior wine buyer Julian Dyer, and this had allowed it to reduce the number of deals it offered.
Because shoppers were no longer confronted by a "blank wall of wine", they were able to quickly make informed choices and were less influenced by promotions, claimed Dyer.
He wouldn't be drawn on the extent to which promotional activity had been scaled back but said that the Everyday Favourites section, which grouped wines based on style rather than producer or country, had seen a particularly significant cut.
Reducing reliance on promotions was healthier for the long-term value of the wine category than continually "turning up the promotional dial, because God knows where that will end", said Dyer.
The revamp has also driven sales, he said, citing a 30% uplift for entry-level wines, which were now branded 'House' wines.
"Having the House wines all together in our Everyday Favourites section has really worked," said Dyer of the range, which comprises 25 wine varietels 15 that were already stocked and 10 new.
"We've been astonished how well that's landed. It's helping us drive down promotional participation overall because we're finding the displays are engaging consumers in a more easy-to-understand way.
The House label was meant to appeal predominantly to novice or established drinkers who didn't want to spend a lot and had a limited repertoire," he said. "But actually it has attracted people across all the knowledge spectrum."
As part of the restructure in May, Sainsbury's reduced its total number of wines from 680 to 600 by "taking out duplication," which had also made the fixture more easy for consumers to navigate, said the retailer.
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