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April 14 2009
Hong Kong
Hong Kong experienced strong growth in wine sales in 2008 as the metropolitan embraced a growing wine culture according to latest figures released by The Nielsen Company. According to the first ever Hong Kong Wine Report by Nielsen, the total wine market recorded HK$490 million in sales and 26 percent growth in 2008, making it one of the hottest FMCG categories to watch in the market.
Hong Kong people bought as many as 8.5 million bottles of wine in 2008, up by 37 percent from 6.2 million in the previous year - in other words, about 1.5 bottles of wine were sold to each Hong Kong consumer aged 18 or above in the past year. "With the lift of the alcohol duty by the HKSAR government, in a bid to make Hong Kong the hub for wine trading in the region, the average price of wine per litre has fallen by seven percent compared to a year ago. The price of premium wines (>$200 per bottle) experienced a steeper decreased of more than 22 percent, enabling wine lovers to savor some of the best vintages at wallet-friendly prices," commented Ms Angel Young, Executive Director, Retail Measurement Services, The Nielsen Company.
The value sales of wine in 2008 was half the size of total beer sales despite the latter being a more established alcoholic beverage category in the market and more popular among consumers.
"The figures show a growing trend towards wine consumption and an increasing penetration among Hong Kong consumers both for gifting or their own consumption. Nielsen's figures only take into account supermarket sales - the figure is significantly higher if you factor in on-premise, specialty wine retailers and bar/pub sales," Young added.
According to Nielsen ScanTrack, Hong Kong's 2008 strong wine growth were driven mainly by Red Wine which grew by 27 percent in sales and comprised three quarters of the total wine business.
"Wine has been one of the fastest growing categories for supermarket channels in Hong Kong, compared to other alcoholic beverage segments," Young added.
The top growth segments, based on supermarket sales in Hong Kong, included:
Red Wine: With an increase of 27 percent overall, Red Wine is the biggest segment of the Wine Market in Hong Kong and is growing on par with the overall category. Based on country of origin, the fastest growing segments hail from New Zealand and Chile. However the largest regions for reds are from Australia and France.
White Wine: Growing slower at 18 percent in value, White Wine ranks second in Hong Kong. Australia is the biggest white wine region for the Hong Kong market, and the most popular and fastest growing are from Chile and France.
Sparkling Wine: The biggest Sparkling segment is Champagne, while Australian and Spanish Sparkling are the other big players. It is most premium of the segment, given the role of Champagne, with almost 40 percent of the segment being priced over $200.
Rose Wine: rose is the smallest of all Wine segments, yet the momentum on this tiny segment has picked up over the past year with the entry of French Rose Wines.
About Nielsen ScanTrack
Incorporating weekly data from all the key supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores, ScanTrack provides marketers with a powerful tool to understand the trends in different SKUs, brands, categories and competitors' activities within the key chains. Benefits of weekly reporting via ScanTrack include understanding the true impact of weeky price promotions, easier to analyze the impact of above-the-line and below-the-line support, improving the accuracy of examining the seasonality of different categories and brands, and better informed of competitors' activities within the key changes.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
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