FINE WINE AND SPIRITS
VIEWS From THE WealthY CONSUMER
Survey Background
This snapshot report is part of Altiant’s Category Surveys, short questionnaires submitted to our in-house panel of Affluent and High Net Worth Individuals, LuxuryOpinions®. This version explores the Luxury Alcohol Market. The aim was to assess our panel’s sentiments and interactions with the luxury alcohol market and its associated brands.
The quantitative online survey for this report was carried out during Summer/Autumn 2018, and used 1,000 members from various countries across our online affluent community (409 Asia/391 Europe/189 North America/11 Other). 49% of this sample was aged 18-39, while 51% was aged 40+. The gender split was 42:58% male:female. In order to gain a proxy median household income of €536,693 for this survey, we converted the respondents different currencies to Euros as of September 2018.
Only 3% of our panel reported to not drink any alcohol. A positive trend for the alcohol industry is noted among our affluent base, 32% of our respondents plan to buy more alcohol within the next year compared to last year, with 18-39s significantly more likely than over-40s to do so (41% vs 24%). The majority (61%) of respondents plan to buy about the same amount; rising to 70% among over-40s; while only 7% expect to buy fewer alcoholic drinks within the next year.
UTILISATION & PURCHASE BEHAVIOURS
STILL WINE IS PURCHASED THE MOST REGULARLY
“How often do you buy the following types of alcoholic drinks? Please select the most appropriate frequency for each type.”
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Still wine is the most popular type of alcohol drink among the three categories and across all three regions surveyed, with 47% of our panellists buying it weekly. It is equally popular with both genders and age groups.
Reflecting the affluence of our panel, 30% buy sparkling wines such as Champagne at least once a week. 18-39s are significantly more likely than over-40s to be high frequency consumers, doing so more than once a week.
Spirit purchases are less frequent, a probable reflection on a bottle being more likely to be drunk over weeks or months. Nevertheless, 27% still claim to buy spirits on a weekly basis.
ALL THREE REGIONS ARE HIGH SPENDERS IN ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
“Approximately how much do you typically spend on a standard sized bottle of still and sparkling wine/Champagne (750ml), and spirits (700ml) for personal use?”
*Numbers in brackets are conversions/normalised to Euros as at 4th October 2018
Base: 409 Asian/391 European/189 North American affluent/ HNWIs who buy alcoholic drinks. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
European respondents spend €73.40 on average on a bottle of wine. While many spend considerably less than this on average, the mean figure is pulled up considerably by fine wine investments. Europeans are also high spenders on sparkling wines/Champagnes and spirits.
North American respondents spend over $100 on average on all three types of alcoholic drinks. Still wines are again the lowest cost investment on average ($119.05), while spend on sparkling wines/Champagnes is only marginally higher than for spirits.
Within Asia, spirits are in fact the costliest drink on average among our panel (RMB 1,215.96). Surprisingly still are also costlier than sparkling wines on average, a probable result of the popularity of fine wines (see p10).
THREE QUARTERS ONLY REPORT TO DRINKING A COUPLE OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS PER SITTING
“How many drinks do you typically have per sitting or occasion?”
Only 3% of our respondents are teetotal and abstain from drinking alcohol entirely. The majority (74%) state that they only drink 1-3 drinks per sitting or occasion.
Women are significantly more likely than men to stick to only one drink (20% vs 9% respectively). Over-40s are also much more likely to do so than under-40s (21% vs 10%).
Only 6% state that they usually drink more than five drinks per sitting or occasion. Men are more likely than women to do so (9% vs 3%), with – perhaps surprisingly – no variation by age among these drinkers.
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
CHAMPAGNE IS THE DRINK THAT THRIVES MOST IN SPECIAL OCCASIONS
“Which type of drink are you most likely to choose on the following occasions? Please select one option per occasion.”
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Champagne appears to remain the drink of choice for special occasions and celebrations, with around half choosing it for weddings, birthdays/personal milestones and seasonal celebrations such as Christmas.
Other sparkling wines such as Prosecco and Cava are the drink of choice for only around 10-15% of respondents for each of the listed occasions.
Still wine comes to the fore as the drink of choice when dining out at luxury restaurants (52%) and for business-related occasions (34%).
Spirits are at their most popular for birthdays/personal milestones and business-related occasions at 20% and 19% respectively.
35% OF WINE AND SPIRIT BUYERS HAVE MORE THAN 20 BOTTLES OF WINE IN THEIR PERSONAL COLLECTION
“Approximately how many bottles of still and sparkling wine do you currently own in total (eg at home/a cellar/off-site)?”
Base: 880 global affluent/HNWIs who buy wines/spirits. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Despite their affluence, a third (32%) of the respondents for this survey only have a handful of wines in their personal stock. Indeed, 6% state that they have none at all.
Just over a quarter (27%) keep 6-20 bottles at their home, in a cellar or in off-site storage, while a further 19% keep between 21 and 50 bottles.
Meanwhile, 16% of our respondents appear to be serious wine aficionados or even collectors, with more than 50 bottles in their personal collection. Indeed, 8% have more than 100 bottles, which would likely necessitate specialist storage such as a wine cellar.
CHAMPAGNE RETAINS ITS PRESTIGIOUS IMAGE
“Which do you think is the most luxurious type of sparkling wine?”
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Champagne is considered as the most luxurious type of sparkling wine by almost two thirds of our panel (67%). Over-40s are particularly likely to agree when compared to the younger cohort (72% vs 63%).
Prosecco is perceived as the second most luxurious type of sparkling wine, albeit at only 14%. The Prosecco market has made particularly strong progress in the UK and US in recent years, in doing so directly impacting upon the fortunes of Champagne.
English Sparkling Wine and Cava are cited by only 7% and 6% respectively. 18-39s are particularly likely to cite the latter as a luxurious sparkling wine, providing possible routes to growth in a segment which is in fact currently struggling in many countries.
BRAND AWARENESS & PERCEPTION
LAFITE ROTHSCHILD LEADS THE WAY FOR PREMIUM WINE AWARENESS
“When thinking about premium wine (still or sparkling), which is the first brand that comes to mind?”
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Wine is a fragmented and relatively poorly branded market, with a high number of operators. This is one of the likely reasons for the low response results for individual brands for this question.
Chateau Lafite Rothschild is the most cited luxury wine brand at 16%, ahead of even top-end Champagne brands such as Dom Pérignon. The prominent French wine chateaux were regularly mentioned by our panellists, particularly among French respondents.
Many respondents even mistook brands for wine-growing regions such as Bordeaux and Pomerol.
LAFITE’S BRAND AWARENESS BUILT IN ASIA
“When thinking about premium wine (still or sparkling), which is the first brand that comes to mind?”
Base: 409 Asian/391 European/189 North American affluent/ HNWIs who buy alcoholic drinks. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant.
Chateau Lafite Rothschild enjoys a particularly strong overall image as a luxury brand due to its performance in Asia. The brand evidently carries a high degree of gravitas among our Asian panel – cited by a third (34%) as the first brand which comes to mind – as a connoisseurial investment.
Moët et Chandon is cited among the top 3 brands in all regions, albeit with only 5% or less identifying it in each case. North Americans are also more likely to cite other top-end Champagne brands such as Dom Pérignon rather than fine wine brands.
Europeans are likely to cite a wide range of wine brands, with fine wines and exclusive chateaux among the most popular.
DOM PÉRIGNON IS THE MOST RECOGNISED AMONG SELECTED CHAMPAGNE BRANDS
“Now we would like to know how familiar you are with premium Champagne brands. Please indicate which brand you think the following bottles show.” [% correctly identified]
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Some 86% of our panel state that brand name is important to them when buying alcoholic drinks (43% say it is very important and the same share state it is somewhat important). Brand name is unimportant to only 6% of our panellists.
With all naming stripped off the bottles, Dom Pérignon was the best performer among the five Champagne brands selected. 50% of our sample identified the brand without its branding due to its iconic bottle shape.
The ‘debranded’ bottles for Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon were each identified by just over 40% of our respondents, while Cristal’s bright bottle was known by slightly fewer (38%). Despite it’s distinctive sash label, Mumm was only identified by 30% of our respondents.
SPIRITS
BRANDIES ENJOY A FAVOURABLE PERCEPTION
“Which of the following characteristics describes how you view the following brands? Select all applicable characteristics for each brand.”
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Brandy/Cognac/Armagnac is perceived as the most luxurious spirit by 43% of our respondents, rising to 48% among over-40s. The market benefits from some well-known and regarded brands such as Hennessy and Rémy Martin (see next slide).
Meanwhile, whisky/whiskey is perceived as the most luxurious spirit by 32% of our respondents, with no variation in perception by age or gender. Like brandy, whisky benefits from the presence of a number of globally-renowned premium brands such as Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal (see next slide).
Other spirit types such as gin, rum and baijiu each garner less than 5% for perceptions as the most luxurious spirit, the latter performing strongly as expected in Asian markets.
SIGNIFICANT REGIONAL VARIATIONS EMERGE IN TERMS OF BRAND PERCEPTIONS
“Which of the following characteristics describes how you view the following brands? Select all applicable characteristics for each brand.”
Base: 1,000 global affluent/HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Much like the wine market, the global spirits market is highly fragmented with a large number of operators. This is a likely reason why no single brand garners more than a 7% response rate for top-of-mind brand awareness.
Two Cognacs – Rémy Martin and Hennessy – are the two top-scoring brands for this metric, albeit at only 7% each.
Vodkas and whiskies are prominent among the other leading brands globally, while Asian respondents are the most likely to cite brands such as Maotai, Hibiki and Yamazaki.
GREY GOOSE PERFORMS WELL IN ALL THREE REGIONS
“When thinking about fine spirits, which is the first brand that comes
Base: 409 Asian/391 European/189 North American affluent/ HNWIs. Source: LuxuryOpinions/Altiant
Grey Goose is cited among the leading spirit brands in all three regions, and the most cited in North America (11%). Absolut is the only other vodka brand which can compete on this metric, with 8% of our Asian panellists listing it as the first brand which comes to mind.
Cognac brands such as Hennessy and Rémy Martin also perform strongly across all three regions and are widely seen as premium brands, particularly among our Asian respondents.
Whisky brands also feature prominently among those most listed for top-of-mind awareness, with Johnnie Walker resonating most among North Americans (7%). Perhaps as expected, brands such as Yamazaki and Hibiki perform strongly among our Asian sample.
ABOUT ALTIANT
Altiant is a specialised fieldwork company which enables large scale, global research among affluent consumers/High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in 15+ countries worldwide.
By servicing dozens of the world’s top luxury and wealth brands, Altiant helps renowned brands and their research agencies to answer critical questions among this very hard-to-reach demographic. We ensure that all of our survey respondents are genuinely affluent by having their identities verified and wealth levels validated.
Altiant is a corporate member of ESOMAR, the World’s leading association for standards & Ethics within market research. Altiant adheres to, and abids by their strict guidelines governing the best practice in the industry.
To view the data set in full, or speak to us about any of your luxury research requirements, please email us at contact@altiant.com
Contributors
Chris Wisson, Knowledge Director
Plamen Iliev, Senior Project Manager
Contact
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