More suppliers are signing up to the Harpers Best Practice Guidelines designed to make trading arrangements with independent wine merchants as open and transparent as posible.

The guidelines, which were introduced in 2011 after months of cross industry consultation, have now attracted many of the independent sector's biggest suppliers who have each pledged to sign up and follow the seven key principles laid down in the guidelines.

The initiative came about following a series of seminars held as part of the Harpers Top Merchants programme where a number of independent specialist wine retailers complained about what they felt was unfair treatment at the hands of some suppliers - when wines they believed were destined exclusively for the independent sector ended up on sale, at lower prices, through multiple channels.

Any supplier interested in signing up to the Harpers Best Practice Guidelines can do so by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it stating what steps you are taking to follow the guidelines outlined below. In return Harpers can provide you with point of sale material and a Best Practice Guidelines logo to use on promotional material and company websites.

Who has signed up so far?
Hayward Bros, World Wine Agenices, Patriarche, Indigo Wine, Ehrmanns, Mentzendorff, Les Caves de Pyrene, Hatch Mansfield, Cavendish Wines, Grupo Codorníu UK, Las Bodegas, PLB, De Bortoli Wines, Bottle Green, Raymond Reynolds.

The Harpers Best Practice Guidelines:

1 Suppliers that want to publicly endorse the Harpers' Merchants Best Practice Guidelines should commit themselves to these principles and conduct a transparent relationship with their customers in the independent sector.

2 That these suppliers commit to a transparent independent merchant strategy which makes clear which channels of distribution they are trading in. This should be made available on request to individual wine merchants.

3 Independent merchants can request information from these suppliers on an individual basis about which channel of distribution the wines and spirits they are interested in stocking are distributed in.

4 Sales representatives of these suppliers must be made aware of their distribution strategy covering independent wine merchants.

5 These suppliers should, on request from an independent wine merchant, be able to set out how this strategy is managed within their company and understood by their own sales staff.

6 That training and information is being provided on these suppliers' distribution management strategy to sales staff

7 That these suppliers should inform affected independent merchants if the distribution management strategy for a particular wine or spirit changes.