The first half of 2016 witnessed and upward trend for wine imports, however by the second half of the year that growth gradually subsided. According statistics released by China Customs, imported wine totaled 460 million liters in 2016, which is a 14.42% increase over the same period last year with the value of sales also increasing by 19.09%. Although this growth was seen as a boost for many, less impressive figures are look to return at the end of 2016/early 2017.
The domestic giant pulled high trend of imported wine
For most small to medium sized importers, the main task of 2016 was to clear up inventories which had remained from a stagnant 2013 and 2014. Because of this growth was inevitable in order to fill the void in the inventories left from these sales.
Imported wine continue to seize market share in China, despite a boom in local Chinese wine brands who received international medals. At the same time, the domestic leading enterprises Changyu and Great Wall have spread abroad to accelerate the development in the international market. Despite this, there remains a sizable chunk of bad and “fake” wine in the domestic market which continues to worry consumers. This unease is further exacerbated by a lack of education on the consumer end which makes many purchasers stick to known traditional brands.
W&W take “ALL WINES, ALL STARS, ALL CHANNELS” was a brand strategy implemented by COFCO in FuZhou in Oct. Their purpose of the strategy was to establish the Chinese chief imported wine industry chain integration platform. The focus of the platform was on imported wine, imported beer and imported spirits covering 13 countries, 55 regions, 80 brands, 956 SKU.
The COFCO W&W is in favor of TWE, and became the exclusive agent of Penfolds MAX in January 2016.Subsequent to this agreement Penfolds’ sales shot up, outselling most imported wine labels. Chinese market. In October 2016, COFCO W&W again monopolized the series of Penfolds Rawson’s Retreat which is the core brand of TWE. At the same time, in 2016, Antinori, the KING of Italian wine, authorized COFCO W&W to operate the full range of products and founded Italy Wine Renaissance alliance. Penfolds MAX created a myth of imported wine that sales reached twenty million after launched only a month. CHATEAU DE CIAUD reached 1 million 200 thousand bottles after launched a year, Antinori also dominate in Tmall drink day.
At the same time, five core imported brands under the banner of Changyu appeared together in Changyu Hot imported Wine Strategy Explanation Meeting which took place in the InterContinental Hotel & Resorts. It included Marques del Atrio, Chateau Mirefleurs, Wolf Blass, Italy’s largest sparkling wine DONELLI, M.LEO from Chile. The five wine brands composed “ALL STAR”.
According to the Customs data from Changyu 2016, the total imported volume of the 100 labels were 102 million 970 thousand liters. The highest selling per volume was 5 million 180 thousand liters, the 100th was 420 thousand liters. Imports of Changyu were 2 million 530 thousand liters which is in seventh. In addition, they cooperated with Veyron to spend 600 million yuan in Australia’s vineyard. Thus it can be seen, domestic Wine giants across the board to enter the imported wine camp. They have contributed to the High potential 2016.
A Turn will Come in Imported Wine Market of China
The experts of WABA(World Alcoholic Beverage Alliance) believe that the market of wine can be divided into four levels, followed by type , brand, quality, and taste consumption The level of current domestic market is entering from type to brand consumption, in other words, it is entering from basic type to initial market. Domestic market has a broad development space because it isn’t mature.
At present, the double-digit growth of imported Wine is still relatively low. The imported wine of Chinese market can usher in a period of explosive growth only when it achieves certain wine consumer base and a double growth of quality and value. But in terms of brand concentration, the eastern and western market has been divided.
From the changes in the structure of consumers, the generations after 80s, 90s and 00s gradually become the mainstream consumer groups with their funds increasing. These young people can accept Western eating habits and consumption habit easily, so the potential customers of wine will grow as a part of western diet. In the next 3-5 years, the domestic wine market will enter a period of rapid growth, then entry a long period of balanced growth trend.
