London, April, 2013 – Pub and restaurant goers will drink less wine in pubs and restaurants over the next seven years as consumers focus their buying habits on the internet and supermarkets, according to VINEXPO, organiser of the world’s biggest wine and spirit exhibition*
The forecast is based on a report commissioned by VINEXPO from specialist research body Wine Intelligence. Entitled Wine Distribution in the World and Expected Changes by 2020, the report highlights changes in five of the world’s biggest wine markets: China, France, Germany, the UK and the USA.
The report puts the findings into the context of 18 consumer countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific which together account for 75% of world wine consumption and 4.6 million on and off trade outlets. Not least, it identifies five major innovations in wine retailing already emerging.
The off-trade (corner shops, wine merchants, supermarket, hypermarkets and the internet) account for 60% of world wine sales. In the UK the value of off-trade sales remained stable between 2007and 2011 growing by 0.73%.
In the UK internet sales, already the highest in Europe, are expected to grow dramatically from 18% in 2011 to 26% by 2020. Supermarkets sales will slip slightly over the same period.
In China, by contrast, where one in four people buy wine on-line, the number is expected to rise to nearly 50% by 2020. Purchases through hypermarkets will also rise.
The picture of retail shopping habits shows that UK wine buyers shop in supermarkets more than any other country in the world. Ninety-sixper cent buy wine in supermarkets compared with 90% in the Netherlands, 84%in Spain and 77% in Belgium. In the USA 58% of wine buyers shop in supermarkets.
Convenience stores and corner shops figure prominently in UK purchasing habits. However, while 24% of wine shoppers used these outlets, the number has been falling as it is in most of Europe.
The impact of hypermarkets with selling space of 27,000 square feet (less common in the UK) is seen in China where 77% of people buy wine in the hyper-sized stores compared with 67% in France and 46% in Germany.
The implications for wine sales through the on-trade shows a mixed picture in Europe.
In the UK where 65% of people drink wine in pubs and bars, this number is expected to decline. A fall is also forecast in restaurant sales where, in 2012, 90% of people drank wine.
In Sweden, for example, wine consumption in restaurants and bars is forecast to rise; in Spain it will rise in bars but stay flat in restaurants. Wine sales in restaurants are also forecast to fall in France and the USA in the run up to 2020.
The five main innovations worldwide emerging in the off-trade are:
- Consumer risk reduction – stores are classifying wine by taste, type and food matching to reduce mistakes
- Connection – growing internet and smartphone, QR codes and e-learning to maintain contact with customers
- Theatricality – wine as ‘hero’ in destinations which create visual, social stimulation
- New sales models – specialist web-sites, stimulation of impulse buys, new services such as drive-in sales
- Ultra-niche strategies – development of specialists in product and origin to build closer relationships with customers
Kaynak : 