Ban on triple offers sees some shoppers buy more wine

A BAN on multi-buy special officers for alcohol in Scotland has had a “negligible impact” on wine sales and may even have encouraged some shoppers to buy more, industry research has claimed. A survey of 50,000 wine drinkers found that the decision to outlaw the popular “three for £10” deals has led to supermarkets simply deciding to lower the cost of individual bottles of wine, as they are still able to do.

The survey, conducted by 
Accolade Wines, found that shoppers were buying less wine during each visit to a store, but were buying wine more frequently than before.

The number of times so-called “light” shoppers bought wine on a visit to a store was up by a third, the survey concluded.

Overall, it found that wine purchases in Scotland fell by 
3.1 per cent in the year to July 2012, resulting in 3.2 million fewer bottles of wine being sold. However, the figure for England and Wales, where there is no ban, was a fall of 2.8 per cent, a difference of just 0.3 per cent, according to the research.