Chances are when you buy that next bottle of wine, you’ll rely on a familiar, trusted adviser. Turns out, family and friends remain key influencers among those shopping for wine.
According to Michael Walton of Nielsen Pacific, 84% of wine drinkers rely on family and friends to help make a decision when buying wine.
Further, research reveals that 69% trusted the recommendations made by branded websites.
And, in a nod perhaps to the emerging influence of social media and crowd-sourced review sites such as CellarTracker, 68% trusted consumer opinions posted online.
The data came from the Savour Australia wine conference in Adelaide where Walton was presenting (“Global market trends, understanding how consumers’ lives are changing”).
Simon Evans of the Australian Financial Review wrote a short piece documenting the salient points, in addition to noting some consumer confidence trends.
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Evans writes, “Optimism was generally rising fastest amongst higher-end consumers in countries that were gravitating to higher-priced wine.”
He continues, “In the US, table wine sales at above $US9 per bottle were rising faster than at lower-price levels, and this was a trend playing out in many countries.”
Another interesting trend that came out of the conference: Wine Economist author Mike Veseth said it was entirely plausible that by 2018 China could overtake the U.S. and become Australia’s largest export market.
[Friends most influential in wine buying decision]
