Majestic Wine set to review £3m direct marketing

Majestic Wine Warehouses, the wine and spirits retailer, is understood to be reviewing its &£3m direct marketing business.

The company, which has 127 stores in the UK and also sells alcohol online, has used integrated agency Haygarth for several years, but is talking to other shops ahead of a formal pitch. Haygarth is expected to repitch for the account, in a process overseen by Majestic’s marketing director Steve de Mellow.

In the past, it has concentrated on direct marketing to loyal customers, and also distributes catalogues and brochures.

The company claims it is the only wine retailer to operate a free delivery service throughout mainland UK.

Majestic has recently announced like-for-like sales up 5.2% in the nine weeks to January 2, representing a similar rate of growth to the levels it reported in November. Despite the figures being lower than the previous year, analysts said they were “impressive”.

At the beginning of the year, the company appointed retail director Steve Lewis and buying manager Justin Apthorp to the posts of chief operating officer and buying director respectively.