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Wine buying hits shoppers' sweet spots at the multiples

Published:  28 March, 2017

High levels of shopper-satisfaction and the willingness of consumers to linger in the wine aisle, are presenting opportunities to engage the customer and drive trade-up sales, a new supermarket study has suggested. 

High levels of shopper-satisfaction and the willingness of consumers to linger in the wine aisle, are presenting opportunities to engage the customer and drive trade-up sales, a new supermarket study has suggested.

According to the 2016 grocery report from Shopper Intelligence, consumers find shopping for wine one of the most enjoyable items to shop for, with red wine ranking only second to deli-counter cheese in the pleasurable retail-experience stakes.

Champagne and sparkling wine came fifth and white wine seventh.

The study showed that red wine is a predominantly planned category of purchase, with 77% of shoppers who purchase red wine stating that they plan to add claret to their baskets before entering the supermarket.

The pull of brands seems to hold less sway however, with only 19% (of the 77%) of shoppers having a particular brand of red wine in mind prior to purchase.

Of these, 16% actually followed through and bought the intended brand - a successful conversion rate of 85%.

Promotions 

As well as value, quality and choice, promotions and in-store offers also figured strongly in shoppers' motivations, with 24% of red wine shoppers specifically hunting for promotions/offers.

The psychology of promotions has presented an interesting dilemma for the multiples over the past 12 months.

In the latter half of 2016, supermarkets including Sainåsbury's and Asda announced they would reduce their number of in-store promotions in favour of overall keeping costs down.

Asda in particular was given a slap on the wrists by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for misleading in-store promotions, but competition from the discounters also played its part in leading the supermarkets to commit to lowering their everyday prices.

But despite possibly getting a better deal overall with lower pricing models, results such as Sainsbury's Q4 results posted earlier this month suggest that consumers can be suckers for promotional bargains.

"Although promotions often aren't the cheapest, they make us feel like we're getting more for our money. For lower priced items, we're going to the likes of Aldi and Lidl and only shopping at the Big Four for luxury items - worrying times for the supermarket chain," Martin Lane, managing editor at www.money.co.uk explained at the time.

The slump in sterling and Brexit uncertainty will continue to place pressure on the multiples, but despite this, there is "still huge potential for category growth by providing shoppers the opportunity to trade-up through a 'good>better>best' principle", Chris Adkins, director at Shopper Intelligence said.

"No longer confined to speciality shops, supermarkets have arguably democratised the wine buying process; taking it from an elitist activity to a more egalitarian process. The opportunity and growth potential for supermarkets is undeniable if they continue to invest in making the wine aisle an enjoyable place for shoppers to linger," he added.

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