Mar 04, 2024
Vinimark's latest webinar attracted a panel of data specialists, wine consultants and wine buyers to answer the question, "Has the world fallen out of love with wine?"
The discussion began with a global overview of some of the world's biggest wine markets; provided by Vinimark's Head of Insights and Business Advisory, Oelof Weideman. This was followed by local market insights from Makro's head wine buyer, Divan van Wyk.
Van Wyk pointed out regional markets that were performing particularly well, and gave insights into the role of wine discounting in their retail strategy. As a counter, Weideman outlined potentials pitfalls of discounting as a sales strategy and unpacked some very specific frameworks for assessing its merit in various contexts. He then went on to provide some useful metrics that will enable wine producers to assess the business health of their sales strategies.
As is so often the case, the discussion highlighted the need to segment the wine market, as wine consultant Francois Rautenbach (previously head of wine at Singita) shared insights on the premium end of the market that displayed a stark contrast to lower-tiered wine categories. One insight that rang true across all tiers was the need for any wine brand to give serious thought to the message it wants its consumers to receive; the lasting conclusion of the discussion was that the world has not fallen out of love with wine, but it certainly has limited patience for wine brands that have nothing to say.