From price to meaning: a new challenge for wine in modern distribution
For years, wine in large-scale retail trade was almost exclusively about price. Flyers, promotions, and discounts dominated communication, often transforming the bottle into a vague good, reduced to a commodity.
Today, however, the context has radically changed: consumers are less loyal, more informed, and more sensitive to values that go beyond simple cost. And in this new phase of consumption, wine risks being overwhelmed if it doesn’t learn to build—and communicate—its value.
Because price is no longer enough
Price leverage continues to be used, but it no longer has the impact it once did. There are at least three reasons for this:
- Promotional saturation: Customers have learned to distinguish between real discounts and perceived discounts.
- Product mix-up: Similar labels, unclear information, and crowded shelves make it difficult to navigate.
- Reputational risk: a price that is too low without a value story risks instilling distrust, while unexplained premium wines appear “unnecessarily overpriced.”
The point is clear: price doesn’t explain, reassure, or build loyalty. Indeed, without a credible narrative, it can even backfire.
What does “building value” really mean?
Building value doesn’t simply mean raising prices or talking generically about quality. It means making it clear to consumers why that wine deserves attention, with clear, coherent, and easily decipherable messages.
Wine can generate value on multiple dimensions:
- Use value: when do I drink it, with whom, on what occasion?
- Identity value: what story does it tell? Is it tied to a region, a family, a production philosophy?
- Relational value: does it help me make a good impression, surprise others, share?
- Symbolic value: does it express a style, an aesthetic world, a way of life?
If these levels aren’t activated on the shelves, on the label, and in digital content, wine remains a silent product. And price alone won’t save it.
Levers for producers and retailers: a necessary alliance
Building value requires closer collaboration between producers and distributors. Some concrete guidelines:
- Narrative packaging: labels, back labels, and QR codes that go beyond technical data to offer stories, pairings, and usage tips.
- Segmentation by occasion: not just grape variety or alcohol content, but messages closer to the consumer’s experience: “for pizza with friends”, “for an elegant yet affordable gift”, “for a relaxing evening”.
- Omnichannel experience: from flyer to shelf, from e-commerce site to newsletter, the story must be consistent and continuous.
- Sustainability and transparency are increasingly important to new generations, who favor authentic and certified brands.
- Personalized loyalty programs: linking wine to loyalty points, discovery journeys, or experiential rewards helps move it beyond the commodity paradigm.
The new phase of consumption
The contemporary consumer, especially in a period of inflation and increased spending awareness, doesn’t buy more, but buys better.
They prefer fewer but more representative bottles, seeking reassurance, experiences, and authenticity.
Wine can remain central if it stops being perceived as complicated and distant, and instead presents itself as accessible, emotional, and relevant. In other words: not just competitive, but meaningful.
Look beyond the price tag
Today, building value means:
- help the customer understand what he is buying,
- explain to him why he’s buying it,
- show him why it’s worth it.
The future of wine in large-scale retail distribution doesn’t depend on price reductions, but on the ability to explain why a price—high or low—makes sense.
It’s time for producers and retailers to look each other in the eye and ask:
Do we still have something to say together, beyond the price tag?
