Investment in new stores and digital technologies helped Majestic Wines to grow attract more customers and grow its sales in the first half of its financial year, the wine seller said today.
Ecommerce sales grew by 8.3% during the first half of its financial year, and now account for 10.3% of its sales, while the number of customers who have bought in the last year rose by 6.2% to 631,000 during the period. The company said it had launched a new website during the period, with improvements in particular to click and collect functionality and the ability to show local stock resulting, the company said, in improved operational efficiency. Meanwhile, Majestic is to open its 200th store in Petersfield this November.
The update came as Majestic announced pre-tax profits up by 4.2% at £9.5m in the 26 weeks to September 30, on sales up 3.3% to £130.2m. However, like-for-like sales in UK retail stores fell by 0.4% due to weak comparatives – both Easter and the Golden Jubilee celebrations fell during the same period last year. In the following 17 weeks, it said, like-for-like sales grew by 3%.
Steve Lewis, chief executive, said: “These results show we continue to make steady progress towards our strategic growth objectives and we are very well prepared for the peak Christmas trading period.”
