Source from：GMA Gentlemen Agency
The booming Chinese wine market has grown massively in recent years, and with China’s economic growth rate at 7-8% each year, it shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Wine marketing in China has been increasingly dynamic in recent years, as wine brands from around the world look for new ways to access this vitally important market.
This article talks about marketing trends for you.
CHINA IS THE WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST WINE MARKET
Eventhough Chinese traditional alcohol – rice wine is still the most popular alcoholic drink in China, grape wine is recently becoming a trendy symbol of social status, luxury, as well as “healthy alcohol”.With increasing middle-class, disposable income and globalization, the wine market in China has expanded to become the world’s second-largest in terms of revenue, only after the United States.
The market is expected to grow annually by 5.0% (CAGR 2019-2021).
While the annual per capita wine sales and consumption remains low compared to the rest of the world, the demand is rapidly increasing.
How are wine consumers in China?
Sophisticated drinkers, mostly in first-tier cities are happy to pay premium prices for quality wines as education and awareness helps drive up the demand for high-end drinks.
TRENDS TO CAPTURE ON FOR WINE MARKETING
Momentum shifts from the mega-cities to smaller inland cities
Western lifestyle products were first adopted in China’s first tier-cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin or Shenzen… But now it looks like the momentum is shifting to Chinese cities such as Chengdu or Xi’an. While these cities might not have the epic scale of China’s mega-cities, they are still growing extraordinarily fast, and should be targeted by wine businesses now on.
Live-stream and online video making are content king
Deloitte, a consultant, estimates that China’s live streaming revenue will hit $4.4 U.S billion by the end of 2018, and a report by iResearch shows China’s short video market being valued at $900 U.S million in 2017, a YoY increase of 184%, which means that users prefer this type of dynamic, engaging content. Wine marketing can be very exciting and creative when brands know how to maximize live-stream and short videos to transfer their messages and engage consumers just like fashion brands.
Wine marketing that emphasizes health and wellness
Wine Intelligence recently looked at the typical motivations of why Chinese consumers drink wine. The No. 1 reason was the health benefits of wine. In fact, only 32 percent of Chinese wine consumers drink wine because they actually enjoy the taste. Most of them, especially young female consumers, drink wine for health and beauty purposes. This is properly the most significant difference between the perception of grape wine and that of Chinese traditional rice wine. Considering that Chinese middle class is increasingly concerned about health and wellness, as well as they are better educated about wines by time, this insight can be a good direction for brand positioning or marketing campaigns or even content building.
Wine tastings, wine education and wine tourism
The Chinese government is very keen to developing wine culture in China, and as a result, has dedicated significant resources to wine education. Being able to talk knowledgeably about wine is also one way for people to demonstrate social cachet. So wine marketers are also embracing this trend, seeing it as a way to establish much closer links with Chinese wine drinkers. In addition, wine tourism is also growing in popularity, thanks in part to support from the state. The hottest wine region in China right now is Ningxia, which now boasts Bordeaux-style chateaux and internationally recognized wines.
The high-end Market is rising
With the high-speed economic development in China, young people can now afford and adopt the habit of drinking wine. They appreciate different wine categories, grape varieties, and country products through international exposure gained in their travels abroad or through educational materials received at home. These consumers are eager to find suitable products to satisfy their tastes, and willing to accept expensive wines. The high-end wine market will continue to rise, posing an immense opportunity for luxury wine brands.
–Collected by Chen Youyang of WABA International Wine Industry Research Institute
