Matthew Clark sees ‘record-breaking’ online sales

UK drinks retailer Matthew Clark celebrated a record-breaking month for e-commerce in December 2016, with volume sales up 29%.

Matthew Clark celebrated a record-breaking month for online sales in December 2016

The firm, which was bought by Conviviality Retail in 2015, witnessed the “most successful month ever” for its online ordering platform Matthew Clark Live, with value sales rising by 27%.

The e-commerce site is designed to “cut ordering time in half”, benefitting hospitality workers who survive the festive period on an average of just five-to-six hours of sleep a night according to research recently commissioned by Matthew Clark.

Geoff Brown, marketing director at Matthew Clark, said: “We know how hard our customers worked over the festive season, and many have told us how much they value saving time on ordering by using Matthew Clark Live.

“Features such as being able to order any time, anywhere, as well as the speedy repeat order function have contributed to December being our biggest month yet for online ordering, and we expect more and more of our customers to be taking advantage of this service in 2017 and beyond.”

While the biggest sales were seen by Prosecco, which accounted for three of the month’s five best-selling products, vodka was close behind – snatching the remaining two spots.

Yorkshire and the northwest saw the biggest demand for vodka, with 40% of online orders coming from the areas. Demand for gin was strongest in London, which ordered 17% of the total sales.

Brown added: “We’re really pleased to see that so many of our customers the length and breadth of the UK had been stocking up for Christmas and the New Year via Matthew Clark Live. Many of our customers saved time placing orders online over the busy festive season, and we hope the trend will continue into 2017.”