There’s not much about marketing wine that Ed Thornton doesn’t know. A veteran of Fells, he has been with the distributor for over 30 years and has been in his current role for 27 years. But the gifting side to the business, which started back in the early 1990s at around the same time as Thornton joined the company, was not a carefully planned strategy, but rather something which developed organically.
“It sort of evolved from its own niche,” says Thornton. “At first we started doing a Christmas offer, and special Christmas packaging, and it kind of snowballed from there,” fast becoming one of the country’s leading producers of high quality, premium gift packs, supplying a number of upmarket retailers from Harvey Nichols to John Lewis, Fortnum and Mason and Liberty.
To date Fells has not gone out of its way to promote this side of the business, and most new contracts have come about via word of mouth.
“Up until now, we have been fully occupied with the customer base we have” says Thornton. “We specialise in developing ranges for retailers and brand owners, and I’d say up to 90% of what we do is bespoke, so nobody knows that we do it as our name is not on it.”
Full gifting range
Fells gifting department is run as a separate unit out of its main Fells head office in Kings Langley
In the early days, all the products revolved around wine and Port, but gradually the range started to expand and evolve, and now incorporates not just premium wine in boxes and other gifting packages, but everything from hampers to bespoke chopping boards, aprons to corkscrews, and luxury food stuff such teas, coffee, cheese and chocolate.
“It started with our own drinks brands, but now we work with outside 3rd party brands”. For example, Fells were responsible for a Whispering Angel project with John Lewis, and also work closely with many whisky companies.
Fells also collaborates with a number of quality food producers and retailers, such as Royal Warrant holders Darville’s of Windsor, Cheese mongers Paxton and Whitfield, chocolatiers Charbonnel & Walker, and Cambridge-based cheese merchants Rennet & Rind.
“Really, what we are trying to do is sell a service, rather than the products themselves. It’s a means to an end, enabling brand owners and retailers to create exclusive high end ranges “ explains Thornton.
Clearly there is a very seasonal nature to the business, with peak sales occurring over the Christmas period when almost three quarters of sales volume takes place. But there are regular sales volumes throughout the year with noticeable spikes over Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Easter, though Thornton says it is more difficult to plan for those one-day events.
In the summer months, gift packaged boxes of rosé are particularly popular, as is a Laurent Perrier and truffles gift set. “That’s a great seller in the summer, as it makes the perfect wedding present,” explains Thornton. “It retails at about £80 so quite a high-ticket item.”
All year-round gifting
In an ideal world Thornton concedes that sales would be spread more evenly throughout the year, though points out that there is an opportunity for gifting across the calendar. A line of packaged tea and biscuits is a good example of products which are very much a year-round best-seller.
“There is definitely an element of tourism purchase there,” says Thornton. Other consistently good sellers include gift sets of Cockburn miniatures that perform well in the grocery multiples. Retailing at around six or seven pounds, they make the perfect impulse gift purchase or stocking filler.
While much of the gifting and packaging business is bespoke, Fells also offers a range that’s available off the peg under the Vintage Marque brand, which is aimed at the independent sector.
(Click here to watch a video of how the "nested" boxes work - https://vimeo.com/997711167?share=copy)
“What we wanted to do was develop our sourcing and development skills to create a range specifically for the independent sector in terms of packaging,” he adds.
Within the Vintage Marque range are a selection of empty “nested” boxes, which are specifically designed with the independent wine merchant in mind.
Constructed of wood, with sliding lids and carefully dovetailed and engineered to an exacting standard, they come nested inside each other to save all-important space, and offer retailers a cost-effective range of 24 various sized wine boxes within one outer case.
Working with independents
Fells is particularly keen to build stronger relationships with its independent wine merchant customers with its gifting services
Also new within the range are a selection of wine bags which Fells has aimed squarely at retailers and independent wine merchants who want to offer their customers something that’s a bit more “elevated” than the norm.
“It’s all about helping the independents to enhance their offer and make some margin. It’s quite a tough market, and indies who have survived this long are obviously doing a very good job, but any help in generating additional revenue to compete with the Nationals has to be a good thing.We are genuinely trying to help make their business more successful.”
He believes that the drinks industry as a whole is generally not particularly good at boosting margins. “I think it’s a real issue for the industry - we’re just not very good at making margin because we’re so competitive, fighting against each other.”
However, he says that wines which are presented in attractive and imaginatively packaged boxes can command a premium which the customer is prepared to pay for as they are bought as presents.
“Too often we are focused on trying to almost give things away, and paring everything back to the bone, and we talk ourselves down.”
He looks to the luxury perfume industry for inspiration, pointing to the mark ups some of the biggest players in that sector command, and the hefty margins they make for premium packaged items. “It’s a shame that in the wine trade we can’t sometimes take a leaf out of their book,” he says.
Quality, stresses Thornton, is at the heart of what Fells offers, with, for example, their wooden packaging boxes being carefully dovetailed, to give them the edge over the competition.
He points out that space is often a restraining factor within the independent sector, hence the focus on “nesting” boxes where their actual footprint is very small.
“We’re not trying to compete with traditional packaging suppliers thatoffer everything from tape to packaging, the whole works. That’s not what we are trying to do – we are trying to aim largely at the wine trade and Deli sector too. By offering a select range of exclusive packaging and relevant accessories.
Room to grow
Fells is looking at ever more innovative and creative gifting ideas
While it’s early days for the new packaging range, Thornton says feedback so far from customers has been “very positive, and something we want to focus on over the next two to three years and add to and see what works and what we can do better.”
And Fells is constantly dreaming up ideas and ranges to appeal to new customers, the latest being a wine jacket. With a foiled inner lining, cord trim and a quilted jacket finish it will undoubtedly appeal to the well-heeled country set.
“These are really smart, and the retailer can make a decent margin on them,” claims Thornton, based on a retail price of approximately £10 for a single unit. “They are priced to encourage impulse purchase. If someone were buying a bottle of Champagne as a gift, it’s just the kind of thing they might buy to put it in, and its completely reusable.
The Fells team dedicated to the gifting and packaging sector is relatively small, comprising a close team who see each project from conception to finished product, working on everything from design, buying, assembly, packaging, to selling and shipping and logistics. “It’s very hands on and we are all multi-tasking, over the years we have developed a specialist core supplier base that we want to make the most of.
Overseas opportunities
While the independent sector is the biggest target Thornton says it also has eyes on overseas markets, and is already supplying products to several European customers.
But Thornton stresses that it is not Fell’s desire to sell the gifting products to all and sundry. “It’s definitely about focusing on the right kind of customers, where they have a clear interest in the quality of the product rather than just hitting a price point. There are lots of different areas we could be selling gifting into, but there are definitely ones we don’t want to do, where the ethos is more of a buy-one-get-one free mindset.”
Environmental concerns are also a huge focus: Reduction in plastics, use of recycled materials and ethically sourced products are top of our agenda. We are trying to add value and most of the products we sell have an element of after use attached to them rather than one time usage.
So, if you are looking for some gift options for your customers this Christmas then Fells can offer you far more than its usual range of festive Ports and fine wines.
* You can find out more about Fells and its gifting business at its website here.
* Fells is a commercial partner to The Buyer. You can find out more about its services to the premium on and off-trade here.
