Majestic's bumper off-sales figures a warning for pubcos

Majestic's recently released half year figures make sobering reading for anyone involved in brewing, operating pubs or selling beer.

With a 7.4 per cent increase in like-for-like sales and pre-tax profits up an impressive 27 per cent £5m, the high street wine merchant appears to be benefiting hugely from the consumer trend to trade-up quality-wise, buy wine over beer and drink in the comfort of their own home.

The average transaction per customer at Majestic has risen to £110 compared with £104 last year, while the average spend per bottle is up to £5.46 over £5.31 last year. For those high street pubco operators caught in a vicious cycle of discounting and pushing volume sales, the Majestic figures must make for painful reading.

Another thought-provoker emerges from the Majestic figures. Booze-cruising may be falling off, but of serious concern is the revelation that a whopping 16 per cent of the company's trade is down to cross-channel shopping. And the company is predicting another bumper year for its cross-channel stores.

Majestic, like several of its rivals including the British supermarkets, operates an on-line ordering system for its cross-channel operation. You order, pay and state the time you wish to collect the goods from the comfort of your home and when you arrive in Calais your drinks order is loaded into your car.

The Majestic figures provide serious food for thought, highlighting the rise in take-home trade. Add in the ever greater ease of ordering and collecting drink from over the Channel and it's not difficult to see that the threat to poor performers in the on-trade is very real.