Virgin Wine boss, Rowan Gormely, has confirmed the online retailer has several more non-wine website partnerships in his sights, following a tie-up with electrical retailer Dixons.

"The industry needs to diversify if it is to continue to grow in a maturing market," he told The Grocer.

"A large number of wine drinkers don't necessarily go to wine websites.However, a large number of people enjoy wine, and use and shop on the internet. The challenge is reaching these people."

Virgin Wines already links up with sites such as Virgin Atlantic and Primelocation.com, offering subscribers money off vouchers from the Virgin Wine site.

But the Dixons deal involves consumers buying from Virgin via a Dixons-branded site. Dixons said the move was part of its diversification strategy.

"Adding wine to our ­portfolio shows one of the benefits for retailers who trade online," said a spokesman.

"Technology has transformed leisure time in the past few decades and many of our customers like to relax with wine.

"Offering complementary products to make the night in complete makes sense and is convenient for our customers."

Loyalty card scheme Nectar also announced this week that it had developed the Nectar Wine Club, which will allow consumers to purchase wines with points and cash.

The new scheme is being run through Direct Wines.

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