Consumers need more education to push wine sales
Data experts CGA’s Wine Insight Report also found 40% of out-of-home wine drinkers have an active interest in the category but just 6% consider themselves very knowledgeable about it.
The report also revealed sales of English wine were up by a third (33%) year on year and there was a growing interest in wine-based spritz cocktails with almost three quarters (72%) of cocktail drinkers saying they would drink one out of home.
Knowledge gap
CGA senior partnership development manager Mark Newton said: “We know wine can be a daunting drinks category for consumers to navigate and this report shows how big a knowledge gap is holding back sales.
“Tools like recommendations, menus and tasting can all help people feel more comfortable about choosing wine and greater confidence leads to greater spending.
“But consumers behave very differently in this complex market and it is crucial to know which marketing levers to pull for which age groups.
“Operators and suppliers have done a great job in telling consumers stories about provenance and flavours in drinks categories like craft beer and gin.
“Learning a few tricks from these booming markets could help to inject fresh energy into the wine market in 2020 and beyond.”
Helping pubs
Meanwhile, the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) called on the Government to cut wine and spirit duty.
The trade body urged Chancellor Sajid Javid to slash duty by 2% at the next budget, on the 11 March 2020.
Wine and spirit sales in the UK are worth £6bn to pubs alone, which averages out a £120,000 per pub.
A freeze to both wine and spirits in 2017 helped pub businesses, the body said.
