The Wine Merchant issue 89

Page 1

THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers

Issue 89, March 2020

Dog of the Month: Digby Hawkins Bros, Godalming

Reasons to be cheerful in 2020 Survey of 200 busineses shows confidence slowly returning in a trade that saw sales fall by 11% last year

O

ptimism about the coming year

has seen a modest uplift among independent wine merchants,

following a challenging 2019 for traders.

According to The Wine Merchant’s annual

survey of independents, 19% of merchants are “very optimistic” about achieving a

sales increase in 2020, with 44% declaring

themselves to be “fairly confident” of doing better than they did last year.

Despite store numbers holding up well

in 2019, the survey shows that as a whole,

turnover dipped by 11.4% to an average of £550,049 per shop.

This year, 14% of indies say they

are likely to open additional branches,

compared to 11% in the 2019 survey, and 40% expect to increase staff numbers, a figure up from 37% last time.

However the proportion of businesses

expected to sell up this year has quadrupled to 8%.

Shop sales mow account for just under

60% of turnover, down slightly on 2019, with margins holding steady at around

35%. Drink-in sales have risen to 12.5% of the trade’s overall turnover, with average margins of just under 60%.

Wholesale margins are marginally up at

21.8%, but sales from this revenue channel have hit a new low of 15.9% of turnover. • Survey coverage begins on page 24 and continues in our April edition.

Bob’s on the job Tanners in Shrewsbury was one of a number of wine merchants affected by the February floods, but Robert Boutflower was determined to make sure deliveries got through, come hell or high water


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