Direct Wines

Country: UK

Name: Simon McMurtrie

Website: www.directwines.co.uk

Direct Wines Ltd is the World’s largest independent wine merchant with annualised sales of £350 million. We offer more than 2000 different wines to one million active customers worldwide. Operating mainly within the UK, Direct Wines is also very proud to have operations in the USA, Australia, Hong-Kong, Germany, Switzerland, Poland and most recently India.

Core Activity:

Direct Wines is the largest direct-to-consumer wine retailer in the world. Our main call center receives 2 million calls a year, and a significant share of our sales are made through our website.  We also operate 11 retail outlets in popular areas.

Direct Wines' trading identities include Laithwaites, Averys and Virgin Wines. Partnerships with The Sunday Times (The Sunday Times Wine Club), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ Wine), The Telegraph, British Airways as well as many others, have also been established.

Employing over 1000 people worldwide, we are proud to have received numerous awards throughout the year, namely Direct Merchant of the Year (2011) and Buying Team of the Year (2012).

Our main warehouse is responsible for shipments of more than 60,000 cases per week, and we are proud to say that 100% of the packaging used is made from recycled materials.

Direct Wines has been a member of the IWCA since 2003.