A recent trip to my wine dealer got me thinking about the powerful influence of marketing and the sales approach.
We all know the feeling that you have a general idea of what you want to invest in, you have either had your eye on it for a while and/or done way too much time researching it. You are standing in the shop, and just want a second qualified opinion to reassure you and say “yep, that is a good one, good choice, I would take that too”.
It is a common retail sales technique employed the world over. The aggressive up seller will then reassure you “yes sir, your choice is excellent and would be good, but this one is even better and costs only x% more”, no matter what the original product was. These people generally sell well once, but may well cost themselves return customers in the long run. But that’s a topic for another day.
Anyway, it is scary to think what the effect is of advertising such as Dan Murphy’s special offers. They always seem to be offering 90+ point wines, and any time they cannot find any reputable positive wine review there is the mystical, and perhaps not so independent, Dan Murphy’s tasting panel rates their own wines before sale. Needless to say, a bad score of their own products is rare.
The effect this must directly have on clearing any specific stock must be massive in terms of volume. One month ago, there was a cleanskin chambourcin/shiraz advertised for $4 with a DM tasting panel score of 91 points and a recommendation “get in quick, get a bargain and fill up the cellar”.
And people did. I’m not sure how many wine aficionados would be prepared to give up cellaring space to age a $4 cleanskin, but buy people did. It was completely sold out in a day. Apparently, sold out within 12 hours and never to be seen again.
It was a perfect sales strategy for a wine. We were given every reason to want to buy this:
1) the quantity is limited, i.e. scarcity
2) it is a huge bargain at $4
3) it is endorsed by professionals at 91 points and tells the average drinker “this is good”
4) It is for a limited time, i.e. time pressure
5) It is in a prime spot in the store, so “it must be better than the others”
6) It is advertised as a special that won’t last long
7) It was offered for tasting so people think “it must be good, there is nothing to hide”
Prime conditions for any consumer product.
This week it is a St Hallets Shiraz for $11,50. A good price for a wine that is supposed to retail at about $20. If that doesn’t work, there is a “never to be seen again” $4 cleanskin back on the shelf in large quantities, this time without the hoopla. And without the hoopla, with the normal customers not being told to buy it this week, it is bound to be sitting on that shelf for a while.
It will still probably end up one of those little wines you see and think “$4??? you can’t even produce it for that much, it must be rubbish, not even good enough for cooking”. This poor little wine is doomed to be a one hit wonder, telling its little chambourcin/shiraz grandchildren about the one day it hit the big time.
For the record, I did try one. And it was worth $4, a bargain considering it could probably go for $7. As promised, some chocolatey red fruit with a bit over the top fake oak additive and a little teeny bit of that cheap aussie wine chemical tinge to it from trying to stock up the acidity. Probably more around 83 points, a general glugger or a pearler to bring out when your guests have already had enough to drink but someone suggests you crack open “just one last bottle”.
- WINEDUCATION - 