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Women care less for quality than men
Women care less about the quality of wine they drink and more about drinking to relax, compared to men who will spend more on “high quality and new drink experiences”, according to a recent survey.
Women account for 59% of US wine consumption
Women in the US drink more alcohol than men accounting for 59% of consumption by volume compared to 41% for men, however their motivations for drinking are very different, according to a recent survey by US market research company Canadean.
For women, drinking wine was found to be more relaxation and a way to unwind with most seeking “good value options”, compared to men who are more likely to be “wine buffs” keen to search out “high quality” wines.
According to Canadean’s new research with 15% of wine purchases made by women motivated by value with relaxation in mind.
Catherine O’Connor, senior analyst at Canadean, said: “Being more regular drinkers of wine than men, women look to find affordable offerings that allow them to enjoy the drink frequently without feeling guilt over their spending. This makes communicating value an essential part of how marketers should target women.”
In comparison, men drink less wine than women, but spend more with sales totalling $1.8 billion in 2013, compared to the $1 billion spent by women.
O’Connor explained: “These findings reflect a growing wine connoisseurship among American men. While beer is still more likely to be men’s standard drink of choice, a growing number of men are looking to wine for a premium drinking experience as well as to show off their knowledge and refined palates.”
She added: “This means rising male demand for luxury wine experiences and products that can offer the wine buff something new.
“Put simply, while women are looking to wine to accompany conversations as they unwind with friends, for men, wine is the conversation.”
I would love to read the whole survey.
It seems to me that it rather means that women don’t care so much about “well-known prestigious brands”. It is true that these are usually high-quality brands too, but not always.
From my point of view, based on many years observing wine consumers attitudes, women are usually more open to new wines (better if they have a good price-quality relationship) and therefore, have their own opinion whereas men don’t usually dare to order a not-known brand, or reject a prestigious brand.
This is my humble opinion. It would be interesting to hear if you agree with me.
It would be interesting to see the complete survey with age, demographics, salary, etc. because many factors come into play. Would you have a link to the report?
The details and numbers will tell the complete story, and I bet more women under 30 enjoy wine more than men. Men under 30 probably enjoy other libations like mixed drinks, beer and hard alcohol which is a key point, considering some of these libations are cheaper than wine.
The 40+ audience is a different story. I bet (comparing apples to apples (wine drinking professional women and men in the same age bracket and salary)) will show that women look for kick-butt values, unique varieties and brands, whereas, men will spend a little more for the name brands and prestige, but this, by no means, means that women sacrifice quality or buy substandard product.
In my experience in the retail business, women tend to be more flexable and are not as worried about impressing someone. They are much more open to trying something new or different and cae a bit less about points and more about, will they enjoy it. Many men (not all) are more consumed by the points than the actual taste of the wine they are getting and will spend more if they believe they are getting a “better” wine. In very general terms, women do drink for enjoyment and men drink as a form of competition.
Mmm, very good reflections by Manuela, Pamela and Jeffrey. The selection methods for the survey, and indeed the way that the questions are posed would be very interesting to see. American Women drink 59% of all alcohol products, or they buy it during the weekly shop? Only 15% of women are motivated by value with relaxation in mind and this passes for “most” in the paragraph preceding it? A little misleading methinks. By the way, who commissioned the survey?