Chapel Down increases its online sales 16-fold during coronavirus lockdown
Chapel Down said it had increased its online sales 16-fold during lockdown.
Bosses at the English winemaker said the last three months have been ‘extremely challenging’ as sales to bars, pubs and restaurants collapsed.
Chief executive Frazer Thompson said: ‘The past few months have been extremely challenging for everyone, but Chapel Down is in much better shape to weather these extraordinary times.’
Drinking to success: Chapel Down sponsors the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races
Across the UK sales of alcohol for consumption at home were 50 per cent higher than last year in the four weeks to May 17, according to data from retail researcher Kantar.
Chapel Down, which sponsors the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races, will ramp up investment in its online business to push it forward even after venues reopen.
The firm, founded in 1992, has furloughed staff and mothballed its brewery in Ashford to sell unsold stock and wait ‘until there is more certainty’ about the reopening of bars and restaurants.
The harvest is also at risk, the company said, as a result of migrant labour drying up under strict international travel restrictions, forcing the company to trial machine harvesting to fill the gap.