Discounting having less impact on UK wine consumer

The regular wine drinker seems to be getting over promotional price discounts and moving upmarket in the UK.

Two new reports from Wine Intelligence there indicate that discounts may be having less impact on consumer behaviour.

Signs of a less promotion-obsessed nation are revealed with price promotions no longer constituting the main purchasing consideration for the 28.3 million regular wine drinkers, according to Wine Intelligence’s UK Landscapes Report – an in-depth market guidebook. Whilst promotions remain an important choice cue, grape variety is, after a period of absence, back as the number one factor in the decision-making process.

In a separate development, drinkers are paying more attention to the alcoholic content of what they are buying compared to last year and the appeal of the bottle or label design has also become more influential.

Consumers are conscious of paying more for their wine these days, thanks largely to consistent increases in excise duty over the past five years. Almost a quarter of regular wine drinkers in the UK say they now venture beyond the £6 mark in the off-trade while in the on-trade the proportion spending £15 or more is up to 17 per cent.

Meanwhile the numbers of more involved profiles of wine drinkers are growing, according to UK Portraits – the Wine Intelligence wine drinker segmentation report.

Adventurous connoisseurs, the middle-aged confident wine drinkers – loved by the trade for their high spend and openness to trying new wine – have grown significantly since 2007 and now account for around one in 10 of all UK wine drinkers.
Generation Treaters, the younger big-spending wine drinkers, now represent a similar-sized group to their older counterparts.
These two attractive consumer groups together represent 20 per cent of the population now but account for 34 per cent of the total spend on wine in the UK.

“It’s important to recognise that the UK consumer relationship with wine is changing,” says Graham Holter, Associate Director of Wine Intelligence.

He added, “There is a significant (and arguably growing) mass of people who aren’t solely obsessed with discounts, who seek out specialist retailers and unfamiliar wines and who don’t entirely rely on the old certainties. Get to know these consumers a little better and suddenly the UK becomes a far more inviting prospect than some of the topline figures would suggest”.