Virgin Wines more than doubled its margins in its first half.

EBITDA at the online retailer rose 122% to £1.75m for the six months to December 29, with margins increasing from 2.3% to 5%, as reported by Retail Gazette.

Sales were up 2% to £34.3m, while sales to repeat customers rose by 5% and commercial revenue was up 6.5%.

Virgin Wines credited its success to a "disciplined approach to customer acquisition", which included focusing resources on acquiring new customers of a high quality.

This targeting resulted in a 22% increase in new customer conversion rates and a 14% decrease in cost per acquisition.

The retailer also launched a value range in late October, with an 'encouraging' early response from customers.