The once-loved, much-discussed UK chain of wine stores Oddbins is relaunching today with a much-reduced number of stores, 37, but with a new gimmick that will see customers decide the price of some of its wine range.
From tomorrow until this Sunday 23 October, customers are to be given blind tastings of wines in the remaining Oddbins stores and then asked to say how much they'd be prepared to pay for each bottle.
The wines will then go on shelves at the Customer Recommended Price (CRP).
New Oddbins managing director Ayo Akintola's explanation is, 'we're taking the old cliché of "the customer is always right" and actually demonstrating our belief that this is the case. The new Oddbins will put the consumer at the heart of everything we do, so it makes sense that we have a conversation about our pricing with our customers to explain our value-based pricing model, while at the same time taking their opinions on board.
'For a long time the noise around wine has been about discounting and price cuts. It is time we have a mature conversation about price and what constitutes value.
'Oddbins aims to bring the pleasure back to wine buying with a personal touch that cruising the supermarket aisle just fails to deliver'.
We'd value feedback from anyone who has experienced the New Oddbins.
Let's see whether the phoenix really can be raised from the ashes this time.