Proactive Investors - Majestic Wine , the retailer, is opening two new stores this week ahead of what it believes will be the “biggest Christmas ever”.
Having already launched a recruitment drive earlier last month, with the aim of getting more staff in to deal with the festive period, Majestic Wines is hoping to build on last Christmas’ success.
In 2022, the group said it experienced its second-best Christmas in its 40-year history and with the holidays edging closer, the new store openings in Chippenham and Monmouth are set to help capitalise on the festive buzz.
A smaller format site is set to open in Crouch End in London, with the wine seller aiming to open one new store a month.
Chief executive office John Colley said: “Opening two stores in a week for the first time in 10 years underlines our ongoing commitment to physical, experiential retail and offers a clear sign of how far we have progressed as a business under the ownership of Fortress.”
Fortress Investment Group, the US asset management firm owned by Japanese giant SoftBank, bought Majestic Wine back in 2019 for around £95 million.
However, before it was bought, Majestic spun off Naked Wines (LON:WINEW), its online business, and the group became a PLC.
Fast forward to 2023 and Naked Wines PLC is down more than 60% in the last twelve months, highlighting how the discrepancy between the two has grown since separating - and it isn’t just the London-listed group struggling.
Virgin Wines UK PLC (LON:VINO), another listed online retailer, slumped around 12% in the last two days after reporting a 70% drop in underlying earnings and a 15% fall in revenues for the 2023 financial year.
Macroeconomic headwinds and inflationary pressures are usually the excuses dished out by poor-performing companies when reporting and while Virgin Wines boss Jay Wright used one, he also talked about one-off costs and exceptional issues.
However, it is hard to ignore the glaring differences between the companies.
Majestic is in-store, while Naked and Virgin are online.
It's been a trend experienced across multiple facets of the retail industry – look no further than the trouble facing Asos and Boohoo (LON:BOOH) in comparison to the relatively smooth sailing being showcased by the likes of Next and JD Sports.
While e-commerce in the UK is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.8% between now and 2027 - ahead of the apparel market at 6.1% - research data, share price movements and even Majestic Wine are pointing to a different trend.