China’s wine market faces growing pains as consumer tastes evolve, according to new report
The long term health of the Chinese wine market rests on its ability to engage more consumers who buy wines for social or domestic use rather than for a business obligation, according to new research published by Wine Intelligence today.
China Portraits is the first published study that establishes a consumer segmentation of Chinese wine drinkers, and is the culmination of 2 years of quantitative and qualitative research by Wine Intelligence in the Chinese market.
The segmentation shows that the Chinese market remains highly reliant on a segment of wine consumers who are buying very expensive wines as part of a business obligation. These “Prestige-seeking Traditionalists” make up 22% of the wine drinking population but over 40% of spend. These individuals are typically purchasing top end Bordeaux and Burgundy for business dinners and gifts, but are unlikely to venture beyond prestige wines to buy more everyday brands for their own consumption.
By contrast, the two segments of consumers who drink wine for pleasure – middle aged couples and younger social drinkers – account for nearly half of the current wine drinking population but only a third of sales by value. These two segments, dubbed “Social Newbies” and “Casual-at-Homers” in the China wine consumer segmentation, tend to dominate wine sales in more mature markets.
Maria Troein, Wine Intelligence Country Manager for China and the report’s author, said the Chinese wine market was still at an early stage of development, and it would take a number of years before the wine culture of mature consumption markets such as the USA and northern Europe took hold.
“I think the China Portraits segmentation has really brought home the fact that wine as an everyday social drink is still a relatively small part of this market.”
She added: “Nonetheless, there are encouraging signs that there are sections of the market who find wine interesting and appealing for reasons that go beyond social prestige. As the market evolves, the big question for us will be to see whether this remains a niche group of enthusiasts, or whether we begin to see a larger segment of consumers picking up a bottle of wine as a natural, everyday choice.”
China Portraits is published by Wine Intelligence and available from the Wine Intelligence Reports Shop, priced at GBP 2500 / USD 4000 / EUR 3200 / AUD 4000 or 5 Report Credits.*
Contacts:
Richard Halstead, Wine Intelligence Ltd., +44 (0) 20 7378 1277 or richard@wineintelligence.com
Stefanie Forster, Wine Intelligence Ltd., +44 (0) 20 7378 1277 or stefanie@wineintelligence.com
Pour tout complément d’information sur ce sujet, veuillez contacter Jean-Philippe Perrouty (Directeur, Wine Intelligence France) par email jean-philippe@wineintelligence.com
Para recibir más información en castellano, pónganse en contacto con Natasha Rastegar: natasha@wineintelligence.com
For more information in Chinese, please contact Jenny Li: jenny@wineintelligence.com
China Portraits is the first published study that establishes a consumer segmentation of Chinese wine drinkers, and is the culmination of 2 years of quantitative and qualitative research by Wine Intelligence in the Chinese market.
The segmentation shows that the Chinese market remains highly reliant on a segment of wine consumers who are buying very expensive wines as part of a business obligation. These “Prestige-seeking Traditionalists” make up 22% of the wine drinking population but over 40% of spend. These individuals are typically purchasing top end Bordeaux and Burgundy for business dinners and gifts, but are unlikely to venture beyond prestige wines to buy more everyday brands for their own consumption.
By contrast, the two segments of consumers who drink wine for pleasure – middle aged couples and younger social drinkers – account for nearly half of the current wine drinking population but only a third of sales by value. These two segments, dubbed “Social Newbies” and “Casual-at-Homers” in the China wine consumer segmentation, tend to dominate wine sales in more mature markets.
Maria Troein, Wine Intelligence Country Manager for China and the report’s author, said the Chinese wine market was still at an early stage of development, and it would take a number of years before the wine culture of mature consumption markets such as the USA and northern Europe took hold.
“I think the China Portraits segmentation has really brought home the fact that wine as an everyday social drink is still a relatively small part of this market.”
She added: “Nonetheless, there are encouraging signs that there are sections of the market who find wine interesting and appealing for reasons that go beyond social prestige. As the market evolves, the big question for us will be to see whether this remains a niche group of enthusiasts, or whether we begin to see a larger segment of consumers picking up a bottle of wine as a natural, everyday choice.”
China Portraits is published by Wine Intelligence and available from the Wine Intelligence Reports Shop, priced at GBP 2500 / USD 4000 / EUR 3200 / AUD 4000 or 5 Report Credits.*
Contacts:
Richard Halstead, Wine Intelligence Ltd., +44 (0) 20 7378 1277 or richard@wineintelligence.com
Stefanie Forster, Wine Intelligence Ltd., +44 (0) 20 7378 1277 or stefanie@wineintelligence.com
Pour tout complément d’information sur ce sujet, veuillez contacter Jean-Philippe Perrouty (Directeur, Wine Intelligence France) par email jean-philippe@wineintelligence.com
Para recibir más información en castellano, pónganse en contacto con Natasha Rastegar: natasha@wineintelligence.com
For more information in Chinese, please contact Jenny Li: jenny@wineintelligence.com
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