Majestic Wine is to buy online rival Naked Wines for £70m in a deal that puts the web retailer’s founder, Rowan Gormley, in charge.

Majestic has battled intense competition from discount supermarkets and been without a chief executive since February when Steve Lewis stepped down following a sharp fall in Christmas sales.

Naked Wines, founded by Gormley in December 2008, runs a crowdfunded business involving around 300,000 subscribers who help fund more than 130 independent winemakers across 14 countries in exchange for access to exclusive wines at preferential prices.

The new chief executive said he would steer away from price wars with discount grocers such as Lidl and Aldi. “For our customers, if they are given a choice between ‘would you like to buy something that doesn’t taste very nice and is kind of boring for £3.99 down to £2.99, or would you like a bottle of something absolutely stunning for seven quid?’ they will go for the second one every time. I think if we are absolutely consistent about delivering that, the supermarkets can do whatever the hell they like and we will still have a great business,” said Gormley.

The two companies will continue to operate separately but the online experience of Naked Wines and its popularity in the US and Australia are expected to benefit Majestic, which has struggled to embrace online selling. The wine retailer also said it would withhold afinal dividend for 2015 and interim dividend for the next year.

When Lewis stepped down in February after 29 years working at Majestic, the company said digital sales would be an area that the new chief executive would need to focus on.

“[Majestic] are behind the curve without a doubt [online] and direct marketing to their customers. Certainly, getting together with Naked, the skillset could help out Majestic get on the curve quicker and avoid wasting money,” said Kate Calvert, an analyst with Investec.

“They are still going to be run as separate businesses and the IT platform will be run separately but it is using the experience of Naked Wines, which has been very good at developing an online business.”

Majestic Wine will pay about £50m in cash, to be funded through new debt, and £20m in shares. Naked Wines generated sales of £74m last year, up 40% on a year ago, but made a loss of £3.3m.

Majestic Wine trades from more than 200 outlets with 640,000 active customers. The firms said the combination would give Naked Wines access to a nationwide store network to allow a click-and-collect delivery option for its customers.

Gormley said there were benefits for both companies. “From Naked into Majestic, what these benefits have got in common is both companies have got to develop in areas where they are weak and benefit from the other one’s knowledge of doing that,” he said.

“So from the Naked side… we got to the point where we were thinking that we would have to open some shops if we want to keep growing in the UK and slightly daunted by that prospect because it is an expensive business with a long learning curve.

“From Majestic’s point of view, I think what Naked can bring is knowledge of the mobile and online world which can help to improve the customer experience,” he said.

Gormley will replace Nigel Alldritt, chief financial officer, who has been acting interim chief executive. He will now go back to his previous role.

Majestic was forced into cutting prices at Christmas as customers were tempted away by competitors. “The kneejerk reaction to be competitive and do offers, which is not quite the Majestic way, was a reflection that we did not have a sufficient long-term robust strategy to give people confidence – by that I mean shareholders and staff and suppliers – to do what we do best which is brilliant service, great ranges, great innovation and delivering that consistently,” said Majestic chairman Phil Wrigley.