Brexit third anniversary leaves Plymouth's top Champagne retailer feeling flat
On the third anniversary of the UK leaving the European Union, Plymouth's 'Champagne Retailer of the Year' reveals how the impact and commercial challenges are leaving the company feeling flat.
Daniel Blatchford attended Hele's School in Plympton and launched specialist online retailer, Sip Champagnes, with his business partner Peter Crawford in 2020.
The company sources and supplies only the best small-batch, handcrafted champagne straight to consumers and the hospitality trade from France’s iconic wine region. With the UK’s largest collection of 60 Champagne producers and over 236 individual cuvées from across 25 villages in its range, Sip Champagnes only deals with ethically-sourced and artisan products direct from the farmer.
The dominance of the big wine houses and supermarket champagne has meant that champagne choice has been very limited in the UK until Sip Champagnes came along just two years ago. The small producers previously had no supply chain and no access to high-end restaurants, bars, hotels and wine boutiques, which meant consumers had little choice, until now.
Sip Champagnes was recently named the UK's ‘Champagne Retailer of the Year’ by Decanter Magazine and The Drinks Business 'Specialist Online Retailer of the Year Award' just two years after being launched.
Sip Champagnes' Daniel Blatchford:
What have been the main impacts of Brexit to your business?
"As a small start-up, it’s hard to overstate how challenging Brexit has proven to be. Our supply chain broke five times in our first year, largely as a result of partners in France withdrawing from the UK market due to costs and complications. Costs for every element from customs to transport to the products themselves continue to rise and it seems like not a month goes by when there is not a new layer of bureaucratic complexity to navigate."
How have you adapted to this impact?
"We had to rework and strengthen our logistics, relying on larger and more established logistics partners to ensure smoother flow of stock to the UK. We have also hedged our risks against the instability in the UK market by setting up a French subsidiary which will allow us to ship directly from France to other territories, cutting out the challenges and costs of UK customs."
What do you think the future holds if things carry on as they are?
"In short, ever fewer options and ever higher prices for the UK consumer, as challenges and costs to import goods gradually become too great for businesses to bear. Among the many businesses that are struggling, we are actually fortunate that the UK market for Champagne is quite mature and that consumers of prestige products are generally less sensitive to price rises."
What changes would you like to see from the government?
"In general, just some vision and coordinated strategy. There are ever-more layers of seemingly arbitrary bureaucracy that block and slow the import chain, while adding needless costs along the way."
All Sip Champagnes packaging is made from recycled material and is 100% recyclable. They also invest in carbon offsetting programmes to reduce their environmental impact and they plant a tree for every order placed.
For more information on Sip Champagnes, visit https://sipchampagnes.com
