Majestic Wine has announced plans to close some of its 200 stores and instead focus on its online Naked Wines business.
The company will be completely rebranded to Naked Wines, a company launched in 2008 by entrepreneur Rowan Gormley. It was bought in 2015 by Majestic Wine, while Mr Gormley became CEO.
In a statement, Majestic said nearly half of its revenues come from online sales, while another 20% come from overseas. Naked Wines is a online-only subscription service and will be expanded through the freed up cost of Majestic Wine stores.
The company said more details on store closures and job losses will be announced during when its full-year results are published in June.
Announcing the plans, Rowan Gormley said: "It is clear that Naked Wines has the potential for strong sustainable growth, and we will deliver the best results for our shareholders, customers, people and suppliers by focusing all our energies on delivering that potential.
"We also believe that a transformed Majestic business does have the potential to be a long-term winner, but that we risk not maximising the potential of Naked if we try to do both.
"Where we have no choice but to close stores we will aim to minimise job losses by migration into Naked."
Sales and profits are on track to hit their target for the year, with sales expected to reach £500 million.
