Spending fell by 5% in independent alcohol retailers between March 2024 and March 2026, according to Liberty Wines’ new Independent Off-Trade Wine Report.

The pattern also held for larger wine retailers, with online sales down by 4% and national specialists like Majestic dipping by 3%.

Not all doom and gloom, though: more than 40% of indies have increased their sales over the same period, said Liberty, with a quarter growing by over 10%.

Pricing

Looking at rising costs, Liberty said that pricing per bottle has risen across the whole of the off-trade, increasing by a similar percentage across both independents and supermarkets.

Drilling down into the data, however, Liberty added that this increase is likely to result in a higher-quality bottle of wine in independent stores, once costs like duty and transport have been considered.

Visiting numbers

On the reasons for dropping spending, Liberty said that the primary cause was lower customer numbers in-store.

It continued that while spend per visit was generally rising, the decrease in customer numbers drags the total down.

Comparing March 2026 with March 2024, the company said that individual customers had dropped by 9% and visits per unique customer had fallen by 1%.

As such, Liberty said that retailers needed to focus on growing reasons for customers to visit the brick-and-mortar store, including events and tastings.

New consumers

Elsewhere, the report emphasised the related need to bring in younger consumers, something it suggested can be done with a focus on new-wave producers from countries like Greece, Germany and Georgia.

Referring to the concept of wine as difficult to engage with as a “lazy caricature”, Liberty said that retailers needed to expand beyond conservative ranges if they wanted to connect with the new generation.

It added that since 2019, the average age of independent shoppers had dropped by two years, indicating an open and interested new cohort.