This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Merchandising wine by country is ‘lunacy’
Wine retailers need to move away from the “lunacy” of merchandising wines by country and embrace the more stylistic approaches employed in restaurants and online, a leading supplier has said.
Andrew Bewes, managing director of Hallgarten Druitt, said the wine industry’s way of retailing by country of origin made ‘no sense’ and was an anomaly compared to other categories. But he added the consolidation and shrinking of retail ranges, along with developments of tighter on-trade wine lists – was likely to help prompt change.
“It is a complete lunacy to [arrange wines] by the place where they are made,” he told db. “There is a massive consolidation happening and it is controversial from both a consumer point of view and a stylistic point of view. But our way of retailing wine makes no sense.”
He admitted that there was an emotional element to purchasing by country and noted that consumers were reluctant to embrace change – as evidenced by Morrisons’ abandoning its innovative stylistic approach last summer and moving back to merchandising the category primality by country of origin, albeit with greater prominence of style indicators. The supermarket argued at the time that consumers feedback showed country of origin and grape variety were customers’ preferred way to navigate the section.
However Bewes said a half-way house was used at the moment, but the status quo would start to change as ranges narrowed across the wine aisles. It was also likely to follow the example of the on-trade, where London restaurants were leading the way, and also online retailing, where consumers had a greater say in how wines were presented to them.
“We are seeing seismic change [in the on-trade] from the situation twenty years ago and this is not having to list wine region by region and grape by grape but moving towards stylistic indicators. That may mean a reduction in choice at a grocery level – as wine lists in restaurants are coming down in terms of size – but it is easier for consumers and also for the front of house team, whether that is in a restaurant or at retail, as you can use various cues stylistically in a graduated wine list. There is a logic to the weights and styles of the wines,” he said.
“There is an inexorable move to retailing wine by style – and one of the great advantages of online retailing is that you can change the way the consumer looks at your range at the click of a button – it can be by country, grape, colour or style very easily.”
To find out more about the key trends and growth opportunities within beers, wines and spirits retailing, purchase and download a copy of the latest WDR report here.
Morrison’s bravely tried to move away from regional shelving, and tried both price based and style based policies. I gather that neither really worked and they have moved back to the ‘by country’ system
Lunacy is a very strong word and in many respects not only completely misses the point but more importantly adds further confusion to an already confused sector!
Rather than look at alternative and possibly subjective ways of classifying wine such as by stylistic attributes, surely the way is to help educate, not confuse consumers, by using the current colour/country/varietal approach, but then under-pining that with a style/taste/occasion basis which will help the vast majority of consumers gain a greater understanding of why wines taste the way they do and how this greater knowledge can lead to greater consumption enjoyment.
The upcoming ITV’s 13-part The Wine Show which will air in the Spring, is a case in point and one which will help educate, entertain and enable consumers to make better and more informed wine choices, both at retail and in the on-trade!
The answer is education, not changing the current system, which will only add further confusion as consumers try to understand a new choice basis, So please lets stick to the current colour/country/varietal basis and add in that essential educational aspect.
Another good example of this is the 4th Get Wine Wise experiential and promotional campaign which will running around the same time as ITV’s The Wine Show www.getwinewise.info
Salut!
I think that the practice which will give reason to which method of presentation of wines is more correct.
Personally I give more importance to the brand (the winery, its history, ..) than to the area of origin and this thinking basically on a consumer that purchase wines of his own country.
But the brand is linked to some varieties of grape and a certain style linked to a geographical area
The trader who faces buyers with prejudice as “the Spanish cava should be cheap” sure must to place the Cava that has chosen, and he knows to be excellent, between Champagne and sparkling wines coming from different regions so that the buyer only discriminates depending on the price, presentation, … but not by the origin.
My goodness, what utter tosh from all directions. Andrew Bewes certainly enjoys the word ‘stylistic’. Recall another trade luminary in Mexico a million years ago, a yank who had come across the word pragmatic, could not stop using it – even a crisp sandwich became pragmatic. Fortunately for his employer he lost it somewhere in the south Atlantic en route to Spain. Brian George raises his flag on behalf of ITV’s new Wine Show, watching a trailer recently revealed the stars of the show as being a pair of half wits. Nick Oakley comments on the braveness of Morrison’s, wasn’t aware that heroics formed any part of marketing. Then lurches further into nowhere with ‘style based policies’, what on earth are they.
Get with it gentlemen, the consumer calls the tune, the retailer will either dance to it or die! Remember when apart from Alsace the mighty frogs would not allow grape varieties on labels, it took time but the consumer altered that.
Not sure where this came from. Country is CLEARLY a stylistic and qualitative marker for wine choice. Otherwise you have just commoditized a very non-commodity (should be) product. If you can’t taste the difference in an Italian vs. French vs. Australian – then my good sirs you need to go back to sensory school. Not saying that is why you suggest it is all ganged together by variety, but I know when I go in – I want country, then a variety/region, then a producer. I’d probably not shop a wine store that didn’t break it by country – and yes, I buy a LOT of wine and at High price points.
An interesting range of comments, although personally I feel these need to be kept within bounds of polite response rather than such as ‘utter tosh’.
And for the education of Michael Dable, my reference to The Wine Show, was not one of ‘raising the programme flag’ or on its content/quality, it was simply based upon the premise that anything that can be reasonably done to enable greater consumer understanding of wine, has to be a positive move!
What does not seem to be in question by anyone though is that need for enhanced consumer wine education and understanding, by whatever route! And where I was raising my flag was in highlighting to coincidence/similarity in The Wine Show approach and our own Get Wine Wise campaign which runs broadly the same time in April/May – www.getwinewise.info
Finally whilst in most markets, I would agree with Mr Dable that consumer is king, in wine and due to that lack of consumer education, currently the balance still remains with the retailers!