Lorenzo Biscontin
A few days ago the American Association of Wine Economist published on its Linkedin profile the graph you see on the cover.
Yet another interesting graph of this profile that I strongly recommend you follow. You can find it with the acronym AAWE.
What struck me most is the ability of spirits to be transversal across different demographic groups.
Wine is polarized towards women, over 55, with a college degree and high income (these last two variables are strongly autocorrelated).
Beer, on the other hand, is polarized in the opposite way towards men, 18-34 years old (remember that in fact it is 21-34, since 21 is the legal drinking age in the USA), without a college degree and with a low income.
Spirits, on the other hand, are distributed evenly in the preferences of US consumers. There is only a slight preference for consumers under 55.
Why?
Then yesterday, AAWE published the graph below that shows the result of this transversality in the consumption of spirits.
In the period from 1999 to 2023, the share in value of spirits in the US wine + beer + spirits market grew from 28.2% to 42.2%, eroding share mainly from beer.
WHY? HOW DID THEY DO IT?
Beyond the fact that it is a category where large and strong brands prevail (the same goes for beer), the reason in my opinion is because the category “spirits” is actually largely heterogeneous within it.
Whiskey, Bourbon, Gin, Tequila, Vodka, Rum, Liqueurs (sweet), Bitters, etc … are very different categories from each other, perceived differently by the market and positioned differently by the industry. If you want we can add that none of them focuses particularly on the places, methods and ingredients of production, but that’s another story.
The value proposition, or rather the values proposed to the market by brands operating in the different sub-categories, thus allow them to satisfy the different consumer segments (or cohorts, as they say today) and the different moments of consumption.
Well, is there a lesson that wine can learn? In my opinion, a lot.
What do a Barolo, a Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, a Fiano, a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, a Negramaro or a Frappato (just to stay in Italy) have in common in terms of value proposition, or rather proposed values, or positioning? Little or nothing.
And yet they all position themselves on the same values: territory, origin, passion, care, craftsmanship, tradition, family.
What I want to say is that in the (Italian) “wine” category there are many ontologically different sub-categories that form a broad and varied offer capable of satisfying the desires of the different consumer segments in terms of services (benefits) offered and price.
To exploit this potential, however, it is necessary to radically change the monolithically elitist and scholastic approach that characterizes the sector and adopt a new one that starts from the TRUE identity of the wines to effectively address the most similar consumer segments.
It is the VALUE PROPOSAL that must be changed, and the liquid is only one of its components.
The great thing is that as an industry we already have wines, meant as the liquid, to better satisfy the market.
