Tesco has expanded its Simply wine range after selling two million cases in its first year on shelf.

The Simply range, launched last August with 24 lines, has been designed to offer “clear and recognisable labelling” to help reassure shoppers intimidated by the retailer’s “wall of wine” - as many as 800 lines in its largest stores.

Last week, Tesco added a Simply prosecco (rsp: £6.99), a Spanish garnacha rosé (rsp: £4.49) and a garnacha (rsp: £4.49) to the line-up, bringing the total to 31 following several launches earlier in the year, including a malbec (rsp: £4.99) and pinot noir (£5.99).

The Simply wine offering was built around Tesco consumer research last year and was targeted at less knowledgeable shoppers. “It is definitely those customers who are buying it,” said product development manager James Griswood. “We just wanted to make it very simple for customers and we didn’t put vintages on the labels. We wanted good-value wines at a staple price making it as easy as possible for them to make their decisions,” he said, adding that Tesco had run no price promotions on the Simply range.

While the wine had resonated with novice buyers, the trade needed to work harder to attract younger shoppers to the wine aisle who were buying into the category less than previous generations, said Griswood.

Off-trade wine sales have fallen 2% year-on-year [Nielsen 52 w/e 28 April 2012], prompting several suppliers to turn to wine-based cocktails to reinvigorate the category (The Grocer, 21 July 2012, p28).

“The total market is stagnating - we need to encourage new consumers to come in and broaden the depth of the wine they buy,” said Griswood. “We need to consider wine-based or wine-flavoured drinks as a way of widening the potential customer base.”

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