Wine brand has little importance to consumer choices, UK study

Only 2 per cent of the wine shoppers who mostly drink red wine chose the brand first when deciding which wine to buy. It is a similar story for those shoppers who mostly drink white wine: only 3 per cent chose the brand first when buying wine.

“What is also very interesting is that grape variety is more important in shoppers’ decision making than either country of origin or brand,” ​said Tim Wilson, managing director of WDR. According to the research, 9 per cent of shoppers said they decide their wine by grape variety whereas 6 per cent went for country of origin first of all and 3 per cent chose on the basis of brand.

First choices​

The quarterly WDR report claims that 47 per cent of British adults who buy wine for themselves or others in supermarkets or off-licences said that the first thing they decide upon is colour.

Price was also found to be important. 18 per cent of British shoppers said that special offers were what initially drew them to a particular bottle and 13 per cent said they chose the retail selling price primarily.

The analysis by WDR shows 3 levels of decision making: Of the 47 per cent of shoppers that first selected their wine by colour, 27 per cent said that they then go for grape variety. The same proportion (27 per cent) said that offers including discounts, was their second decision after colour peference.

Some shoppers however, rely on little knowledge to start their decision making and often use pairings of grape and country of origin to shape their choice; for example red → merlot → Chile or white → sauvignon blanc → New Zealand.

Research findings were gathered through a monthly online consumer panel run by YouGov of approximately 2,000 British adults (aged 18 and over).

The research is contained in the 5th edition of the Wilson Drinks Report, an independent review of the key issues affecting the UK drinks industry.