// Annual sales dip at Virgin Wines but the business posts strong growth on pre-pandemic levels
// The board said it looks forward to a year of growth driven by strong second-half customer acquisitions
Virgin Wines has seen its annual sales slip to £69 million, down from £73.6 million a year earlier.
Despite this, revenue in the year ending 30 June increased 63% up on pre-pandemic levels three years ago thanks to the specialist alcohol retailer retaining much of the substantial growth achieved during Covid-19 lockdowns.
The business said membership of its main WineBank subscription scheme rose 8% in the period year-on-year while revenue from subscription customers made up 81% of direct-to-consumer sales – up from 67% a year earlier.
READ MORE:
- Virgin Wines ties up with Curry’s and GWR to boost customer acquisition
- Virgin Wines sees growth in subscription sales despite profit dip
- Virgin Wines blames rising inflation as it issues profit warning
The company added that 105,000 new customers were acquired across all schemes in the year – 5% ahead of expectations.
Virgin Wines said the commercial arm of its business continues to perform well, recently signing new partnerships with Moonpig and Great Western Railway.
Virgin Wines chief executive Jay Wright said: “The popularity of our unique consumer propositions, our low customer acquisition costs, our high levels of customer retention and the outstanding quality and value of our wines continue to give us great confidence for the future.
“Our growth, driven by a substantial pipeline of new partnerships to drive increased customer acquisition, will continue in a post Covid world, and we continue to drive levels of profitability unseen elsewhere in our market sector whilst maintaining our gross margins despite the widely documented global cost pressures.”
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
