Majestic Wine: Difference between revisions
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In 2007 at the at the [http://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/ International Wine Challenge Awards], '''Majestic Wine''' was awarded both High Street Merchant of The Year 2007, and overall Merchant of The Year 2007, on the strength of their "Competitive prices, excellent customer service, impressive range". In the same year, [http://www.decanter.com Decanter Magazine] awarded them Decanter High Street Chain of The Year 2007. |
In 2007 at the at the [http://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/ International Wine Challenge Awards], '''Majestic Wine''' was awarded both High Street Merchant of The Year 2007, and overall Merchant of The Year 2007, on the strength of their "Competitive prices, excellent customer service, impressive range". In the same year, [http://www.decanter.com Decanter Magazine] awarded them Decanter High Street Chain of The Year 2007. |
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== Working for Majestic == |
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The central philosophy, and primary aim of the controlling persons at the top of Majestic are ensuring the earnings of several millions annually. This should always be born in mind in all the firm’s dealings. There exists a very small number of these top level directing individuals: the controlling stake-holders. Central within this stake-holding group are the knighted John Apthorp (who is now unactive in daily runnings), the’ retired’ Tim Howe, and Steve Lewis. |
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From humble beginnings, Steve Lewis has now ‘removed’ any individual is his path to become the Company’s central ‘ringleader’, and together with the Company’s area managers, is chief philosophy-initiator and ‘enforcer’. |
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Whilst all companies need to show a profit and effective operating procedures, the practices employed by Majestic go way beyond any moral or legal norms or practices in a modern and free society. Outside of the elite group, no other worker within the organisation sees a realistic return for their efforts, or share in its fortunes, professional or financial, despite initial couched promises. Indeed, the employee's professional goodwill and hard work in such a working environment will be rewarded only with manipulation and maltreatment by the management chain, and the Company structure more generally. |
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The process of ‘employment’ for the employee begins often through one of two ways. Firstly, there is the direct ‘on spec’ enquiry by often vulnerable individuals regarding employment. Secondly, the Company typically 'hooks in' its often 'fresh, (deliberately) young, working talent' through a meeting with the smiley student-friendly HR representative at a careers fair. She (and it usually is a she) will install the idea of a ‘glittering’ career, with great potential for career development and promotion, by using company-installed couched and suggestive phrasing and language, in the attempt to avoid later bad publicity, or possible legal action. Majestic in this mechanism attempts to entrap specific graduates in particular: typically yet careerless but intelligent students, who through the lack of achieving a career-specific degree or personal circumstance, have so far been either drifting from lower level job to job, or are unable to kick off their graduate career at all. Majestic is therefore present and represented at many careers events, such as the 'Milkround', for example, attempting to exploit the person’s goodwill as much as possible. |
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Their methods and presentation at this initial stage are almost indistinguishable from those of other, perhaps slick, often blue-chip companies, who may be offering genuine careers, career structure, reasonable working conditions, and remuneration. Their initial verbal proposal of joining the 'graduate scheme' turns out on employment to be fictitious. |
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Majestic relies on the goodwill, enthusiasm, and naivety of these target candidates greatly: to ensure its manpower processes run smoothly. The Company for example actively excludes where possible any applicants who are mature, although at the risk of falling foul of legislation and poor PR. This is of course denied by Majestic. Therefore the Company typically sees employees in their twenties as tending to be more 'adaptable', more naïve, less 'street-wise', less aware of their employment rights, and more willing to accept extreme exploitation. Also excluded are persons whom the Company is aware has any knowledge of their employment rights. |
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During the initial interview process, promises are made of gained skills, professional rewards of career progression, and 'promotion' following an initial period of 'boot camp'. This fools the new employee into thinking the exploitation they immediately experience on engagement will soon end. A process of indoctrination and (at first) subtle brain-washing is employed. The 'cult' aspect of Majestic is installed carefully and quickly, supported by the employee working in the interesting profession of wine. The wine aspect goes as far as an expectation placed on the employee of participating in “beer o’clock”: the evening ritual of after finishing the day’s work between 9pm (if the working day finishes so ‘early’ – it often does not) and midnight, having to drink beer and/or wine before driving home (often in Majestic vehilces), and buying more thereof from the Company. |
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Majestic is almost petrified of losing its customer base or sales, to the extent of the welfare of its employees. Getting money out of the customer (and the employee) in any amoral fashion is of top priority. Subtle truth manipulation and half truths are used on the customer, including the "we can only sell you twelve bottles, because we act as a wholesaler" rule (note as a retailer, the Company is actually a retailer, and not classified as a wholesaler, and can therefore sell many or as few bottles at one time as it wishes, and indeed to some favoured customers, actually does). |
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Store managers will be 'asked' to write a promotional review for a wine Majestic wants to sell, for advertising in its company catalogue. In reality, the manager has had nothing to do with the process, certainly has not chosen the wine, and may not even like it. Their involvement amounts to posing for a photo, and giving their name to the advert written by head office in Watford about the wine, for whatever reason, it wishes to ‘push’. |
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Working back-breaking work, often for twelve hours or more, often alone in-store is commonplace, and the danger this represents to the employee is of little concern to the Company. Lunch breaks are usually wholly banned company-wide, even for half an hour. Holidays are taken when the employee is told to take them. Holidays during November and December are completely banned, as is resigning from the Company at this time. |
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Thus at the sharp end, most employees are subjected to constant daily bullying, harassment, and negative management-chain pressure practices to ensure compliance. The process of exploitation of employees is systematic, conscious and industrial in its manner. For this, Majestic needs 'enforcers'. To this end, Majestic singles out certain personality types, for management positions. Persons promoted to these managerial roles, such as store managers, area managers, and certain head office roles, are singled out for the psychopathic tendencies in their personality traits (in its purely medical sense). Persons who have fewer qualms in mistreatment of fellow workers, be it to ensure self survival, to ensure compliance through any method, or for enjoyment, be it legal, legal but immoral, or illegal are noticed, encouraged, and promoted. |
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As mentioned, the overall aim is to keep the elite ‘in the money’. This is achieved through a number of methods, such as preventing any organised movement to change the environment or culture, permitting any effective employee welfare organisation, and by ensuring Company resources, both assets and staffing levels, are maintained at immorally and unreasonably low levels. Losses, for whatever reason, at store level are taken directly out of the employee’s aready tiny wages. Through this, together with other mechanisms, staff are encouraged to exploit one another, in order to push blame for failings, often deliberately created by area managers for just this purpose, and avoid punishment. |
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Welfare for the environment is no concern to Majestic. |
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Despite any original intent, few Majestic workers stay in the Company long term, let alone a for a ‘career’. There is no work/life balance, or chances for nurturing a family, and ruined relationships are commonplace. Whilst initially binding the member of staff to the Company even more, the individual is inevitably and eventually forced to confront his or her situation, and the moral misdeeds he or she has been forced to commit against his or her fellow colleagues, the customers, and generally. Thus eventually, following a few months or years, the employee realises the 'initial period' is not going to end, and they find themselves morally compromised, and 'burned out'. But that is okay with the Company. Indeed, Majestic accepts and anticipates this. It has had its few months or years of human resource exploitation, per its plan, and there is a constant supply of uninitiated future employees who have not yet been through the process, for replacement. To prevent premature 'wisening up' by current employees however, a number of mechanisms are employed, such as limited free time provision (including exhaustion through commonly working thirteen hour days, of usual back-breaking work), and holiday provision. There is usually strong criticism and demonisation of ex-employees. Ex-staff are ridiculed and criticised on grounds such as not being good enough, incompetent, being foolish for ‘missing out’, and often for unwarranted dishonesty. This hinders an employee looking around for a new job. Despite Company promises of 'a glittering career', promotion, and skills and training, Majestic relies on the employee being stigmatised in 'choosing' a career in 'shelf-stacking retail' on their CV with no other experience. |
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Ex-employees with similar stories are therefore commonplace. Persons considering a ‘career’ within the Company would, therefore, be strongly recommended to reconsider. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 09:37, 4 October 2009
| File:MajesticWine logo.png | |
| Company type | Public company (AIM:MJW) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Wine retailing |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Founder | Tony Mason |
| Headquarters | Watford , United Kingdom |
Number of locations | 150 in UK; 3 in France |
| Revenue | £201.8m (12 months to 30/Mar/2009) |
| £7.4m (12 months to 30/Mar/2009) | |
| Subsidiaries | Lay & Wheeler Ltd, WBI Ltd and Vinotheque Holdings Ltd |
| Website | http://www.majestic.co.uk/ |
Majestic Wine plc is the United Kingdom's largest retailer of wine by the mixed case. (Note that Majestic's own website uses both 'Majestic Wine plc' and 'Majestic Wine Warehouses Ltd'.)
History
Majestic Vintners opened its first wine warehouse in Harringay[1], North London, in 1980, under the management of Tony Mason. The second store was opened in Battersea in May 1981. In mid-1981, the group called in receivers, and was bought by investment banker Giles Clarke,[2] where as Chairman Clarke built it into a UK national chain. From August 1987 to May 1988, Clarke was chairman of Majestic Wine Corporation Inc, a United States company which owned a chain of 104 stores trading as Liquor Barn in California and Arizona.[3] Following disposal of the US based businesses, Clarke sold the UK plc business of Majestic Wines for £15 million in 1989 to investors, and went on to form Pet City.
In 1986, Mason set up Wizard Wine under the same concept, which in 1987 was purchased by retailer Bejam. After Bejam was purchased by rival Iceland in 1987, Mason and partners John Apthorp (now retired) and Tim How (CEO until 2008) bought Wine Wizard from the heavily indebted Iceland. In 1991 Wine Wizard purchased Majestic Wine plc in a leveraged buyout, and merged under the Majestic Wine Warehouses brand as a private company.[4]
Today
Head quartered in Watford, Hertfordshire, under the leadership of Tim How (CEO until 2008), Majestic Wine became a public company in 1996, floating on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
Majestic Wine interestingly operates as a mixed case retailer, selling a mixture of wine, champagne and spirits with a minimum purchase of six bottles in-store and twelve bottles for delivery and online. Having such a policy has allowed the retailer to offer their customers free tasting, free delivery and free glass hire.
Majestic Wine currently has 144 stores in the UK, owing its expansion and success to a combination of acquisition and development:
- April 2000 - Majestic.co.uk was launched, offering customers a convenient online service. By 2007, online sales had risen to around £15 million per year with over 100,000 orders.
- October 2001 - Majestic acquired Les Celliers de Calais, whose business was based around the British cross-channel trade. Now known as Wine & Beer World there are three stores in Calais, Coquelles and Cherbourg.
- July 2003 - Majestic opened their first temperature controlled fine wine centre at St. John's Wood store. They currently have nearly 40 air-conditioned stores, but the largest amount of fine wine is still housed in the original St John's Wood store.
- October 2005 - Launched Gift Solutions, an online service designed to allow customers to send gifts of less than 12 bottles.
- March 2009 - Majestic acquired the privately owned companies: Lay & Wheeler Ltd, WBI Ltd and Vinotheque Holdings Ltd as the fine wine specialist arm of Majestic Wine Plc.[5]
- June 2009 - Majestic published company report stating that the administrative costs had increased by £6 million from £10 million, head office staffing increased by 10%. Store staffing increased by a little over 1%. The increase in store numbers means that the store staffing increase is actually a real terms decrease.
- September 2009 - Majestic reduced it's in-store minimum purchase from 12 bottles to 6 bottles. The minimum purchase for online orders and deliveries remains at 12 bottles.
In 2007 at the at the International Wine Challenge Awards, Majestic Wine was awarded both High Street Merchant of The Year 2007, and overall Merchant of The Year 2007, on the strength of their "Competitive prices, excellent customer service, impressive range". In the same year, Decanter Magazine awarded them Decanter High Street Chain of The Year 2007.
See also
- First Quench Retailing
- Oddbins (formerly owned by the French Castel)
References
- ^ Majestic's first store was in Colina Mews, Harringay. Majestic's website mistakenly refers to this as Wood Green, the boundary of Wood Green is about a half mile further north.
- ^ About Us: National Council - C Giles Clarke Learning & Skills Council
- ^ tecc-IS plc - Directorate Change digitallook.com - 12 December, 2003
- ^ About Majestic Majestic Wine plc
- ^ http://blog.majestic.co.uk/2009/03/06/majestic-wine-acquires-lay-wheeler/