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Consumers Starting To Trade Up?

March 31, 2010 | Filed under Featured Articles | Posted by

Consumers may be pulling out of the Great Recession and beginning to “trade up” with domestic brands receiving most of the benefits. According to scanner data from The Nielsen Company, higher price segments mostly dominated growth in dollar volume with the 20+ segment gaining most.

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The original analysis, interpretation and custom calculations performed by Wine Industry Insight and based on data from The Nielsen Company and the complete WII article are available to VIP Premium Subscribers. Wine Industry Insight does not sell or market data from the Nielsen Company.

Wines selling for an average of $25.80 per 750ml bottle were the top gainers for the four-week period ending March 6, 2010, up 12.6 percent over the same period last year.

What’s more, this gain came despite an average price increase of $0.44 per bottle.This is the second month in a row that the $20+ segment has posted a significant gain while increasing the average price.

The $20+ segment was followed, in order by average 750ml price:

  • $12.52, up 9.7%
  • $9.99, up 9.1%
  • $4.66, up 5.7%
  • 16.26, up 4.4%
  • $2.24, up 0.1%
  • $6.92, down 2.1%

The relationship is not completely linear with the $6-$8.99 segment coming in  last with a loss of 2.1 percent. However, this is a far cry from a year ago when that least-expensive segment showed the biggest gains.

VARIETAL PRICES TRACK THE “TRADING UP” PATTERN

Selected varietals mostly tracked the same pattern of higher gains at higher price points with Pinor Noir, Sangiovese and Zinfandel leading the way. Gamay is a small-volume seller (see full spreadsheet) and not indicative of the price point. Chianti — a regional blend and not a varietal — follows the same downward trend of other imports.

FULL SPREADSHEET AVAILABLE

The Nielsen Company spreadsheet that includes the data on which this article is based  is available here for VIP Premium subscribers. This data represents a very small fraction of that available to Nielsen clients. Click here for a thumbnail of that spreadsheet.

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