The Q1 2011 performance was bolstered by an excellent January in the Fine Wines (Slurpfinewines.com) division.  Growth also continues to be driven by the company’s Asian division (Slurp.asia) under the energetic leadership of Managing Director Tom Chamberlain.  Slurp.asia had a particularly strong March as our Hong Kong and Chinese customers replenished stocks following the Chinese New Year in February.  The appointment of one of Slurp’s original founders, Nico Sunnucks, to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer has given the Group a much sharper global focus in its logistics processes as it continues its international expansion.  Although no new brands were rolled out in Q1, a lot of background work was completed and a number of new brands (both domestic in the UK and overseas) will be appearing in the next two quarters.

Much of the growth in the UK retail arm (branded Slurp.co.uk) was the result of continuing innovation in the Slurp offering.   In Q1 we swept away all restrictions on order size for our 1,500 ‘Slurp Express’ products offered for next day delivery.  This change sets Slurp apart from almost all of its main competitors and has had a significant impact on the level of smaller orders – often for just one bottle.

Slurp continued to make numerous hires in Q1 2011 in support of its aggressive growth strategy.   A new Financial Controller has joined the Group (Susan Lummis) and a dedicated Communications Group has been created under the leadership of Emily Acha Derrington.  Slurp has also completed a major reorganisation of its IT division with a new outsourced team formed in the Indian capital of Delhi to give it the scope to increase its development substantially in the remainder of 2011.

Dr Jeremy Howard

Chief Executive Officer

The quarter started with an extremely strong October, which saw revenue growth of 568% over October 2009.  Early November saw the relocation of our office and duty paid logistics centre from Acton to the company’s new headquarters in Park Royal, W3.  Only two weeks after the move the UK retail arm launched its first ever Groupon voucher offer.  Groupon customers were offered a £30 voucher for use on Slurp.co.uk for just £9.  Demand for the vouchers was quite remarkable, and the planned two day offer had to be curtailed after just 8 hours as Groupons sold rose past 4,000 on the first day.  Website traffic also surged, with almost 25,000 unique visitors arriving over a 24 hour period.  The slurp.co.uk site held up well, however, and saw only a marginal reduction in performance.  November also saw the completion of our UK call centre with a team of dedicated wine experts now on call 8am till 7pm daily to deal with customer enquiries.  In the quarter numerous new initiatives were launched:  the new Slurp Gift Vouchers, a hugely expanded mixed case range and ‘Slurp Chat’ – which enables customers to chat direct with a wine expert on the screen – being just a few examples.

The physical launch of Slurp.asia (with the relocation of new regional Managing Director Tom Chamberlain to Hong Kong on 1st December) also proved a timely move.  Demand from retail and trade customers in Asia buoyed demand in the final weeks of the year.  There is no question that Slurp.asia is going to be a central pillar of the Group’s global expansion during 2011 and beyond.

In the UK December saw the expected seasonal rush.  This year there was undoubtedly a strong positive influence on online sales as unusually cold air kept shoppers off the high street and in front of their screens.  But the weather also brought challenges.  Snowfall across the country caused significant disruption to many of our suppliers and to our main courier firm.  Although Slurp’s main UK distribution hub was largely unaffected, deliveries to many parts of the UK were affected by the inability of couriers to get to many addresses.  Staff had to work around the clock to ensure that the vast majority of Slurpers received their products in time for the big day.

January 2011 has started remarkably strongly and Slurp now embarks on a major recruitment drive to bolster its internal accounts and logistics teams, and to develop both its fine wine trading capability and its geographical reach.

ENDS.

Today Slurp.co.uk announced Q3 sales growth of 565% over the same period in 2009. Although this is down from the four figure percentage rates recorded earlier in the year, it is in line with Slurp’s projections and still represents stunning growth in this economic environment. Most encouragingly of all, after a relatively quiet August, the company’s sales jumped sharply in September – up 733% over the same month in 2009.

Q3 2010 began well with the carry over from the company’s first successful Bordeaux en primeur campaign. But August was disappointingly quiet with a seemingly high percentage of Slurp’s affluent customers taking holidays all at the same time! However, September saw clients come flooding back with depleted cellars and parched palates. A number of successful promotions, such as the 2010 vintage of Greywacke Sauvignon and the new Dom Perignon 2002, saw September sales come within a whisker of June’s.

September has also seen a flurry of hiring activity. The fine wine division (SlurpFineWines.com) hired Charlie Newman from rivals Laithwaites and John Beveridge joined the Retail Sales group from Majestic. A junior trading hire is also expected to be announced in October to work on the fine wines trading desk. Another high profile hire from Laithwaites will start on the Retail Sales side on 18th October. In Logistics, the company hired Luke Barton and Richard Ellis in response to Slurp’s sharply increased order flow. Another programmer, Matthew Caruana Galizia joined the IT group. Of equal importance, October will see the company finally relocating to its new spacious HQ and warehouse in Park Royal. This new 5,000 sq ft facility will provide Slurp with a new platform from which to expand. The final details were also agreed on the companies first overseas office – which will open in Hong Kong in December.

Slurp now has comfortably the largest product range of any UK stockholding retailer, with over 6,500 wines, spirits and specialist beers available. The Slurp Express range of products for next day delivery has also increased to over 1,000 lines – and continues to expand. The Slurp iPhone app was launched and has seen a rapid take up. The Facebook and Twitter platforms have also had a lot more focus in Q3, and are becoming an important line of communication with Slurpers all over the world. But a lot of hard work remains, and the Slurp team remains very focused on a number of new marketing and product initiatives which will be rolled out in Q4.

* Decanter ‘Innovation of the Year Award’ 2010
* Decanter ‘Small Regional Wine Merchant of the Year Award’ 2010
* International Wine Challenge ‘Direct Merchant of the Year’ 2010
* International Wine Challenge ‘Specialist Merchant of the Year for New Zealand’

Slurp.co.uk has been an Aspiration Capital Management investee company since 2006.  Dr Jeremy Howard sits on the Slurp.co.uk Board as Executive Chairman.  The company is the fastest growing online wine, beer and spirits retailer in the UK.

The new ‘Slurp Express’ service offering next day mixed case delivery at no additional cost has been a major driver of growth. 665 different lines are now offered through this channel, and this will increase to 1,000 by the end of Q2. SlurpFineWines.com was launched and is now a major revenue contributor.

The increase in sales in Q1 2010 was almost entirely driven by organic growth. But this is about to change as the company embarks on a major marketing initiative from April 2010. Slurp has retained several different agencies to run e-marketing and SEO campaigns designed to raise brand awareness. An I-Phone app will be launched at the end of the month and a large number of adverts on Facebook are already building Slurp’s brand amongst a younger demographic of wine buyers. Slurp will attempt to attract a large number of new customers in the current quarter through a promotional voucher campaign. Slurp’s new and innovatively branded boxes are further improving the professionalism of our offering.

Slurp has also embarked on a recruitment drive which will see the appointment of a new Head of Retail Wine Sales and a new Product Manager in the next week. Although overall the environment for high street wine sales remains challenging, the migration of customer business onto the internet appears if anything to be accelerating. Slurp will continue to invest heavily to meet this demand.

Slurp’s success in attracting customers in spite of the grim market backdrop is no doubt partially the result of the company’s ever expanding range of products. But it is also a reflection of the company attempting to provide customers with high quality products at reasonable prices. Slurp is better able to do this than some high street retailers because of its lower cost business model – with investment being channelled into better online tools to ensure that the shopping experience is smooth and enjoyable. We have found that customers are still very willing to pay for premium products, it is just that they don’t want to over pay for them.

Q4 has also started very brightly for Slurp and the company looks forward to the last two months of year with significant optimism.”

ENDS.

Aspiration Capital CEO and Slurp.co.uk Director Dr Jeremy Howard said:

“For Slurp.co.uk to be growing sales at this rate in the current economic environment is obviously very encouraging. The company still has a lot of work to do to complete its platform and realise its goal of becoming the UK’s number one online wine retailer, but clearly figures like these indicate that it is moving in the right direction very quickly. No one company has yet come close to domination in the direct to consumer wine space, and with 1,000 more products than the current market leaders and a more advanced platform through which to sell them,Slurp.co.uk is well placed to garner a significant share of the £10 billion annual UK wine market”.