10 million bottles of wine sold in 2009, an increase of 16 percent from 2008 -
Pop the cork! Hong Kong's demand for wine remained strong in 2009 despite the turbulent economic climate.
Over 10 million bottles of wine were sold in 2009, a whopping 16 percent growth in volume compared to 2008, making wine one of the fastest growing beverage categories in Hong Kong, according to the latest figures released by The Nielsen Company.
As a result of the strong support from key retailers via effective promotion, Hong Kong wine-lovers consumed over 10 million bottles of wine in 2009, driving a strong growth of 16 percent during the year. "The removal of wine duty coupled with the aspiration of Hong Kongers for a trendy lifestyle has led to wines being an integral part of daily life. Together with Key Supermarket retailers offering discounts on multi-bottle purchases, the average price per bottle of wine has further dropped by 4 percent compared to 2008.
This enabled the value of sales in the wine category to grow at 11 percent for 2009, but this growth rate still fall behind the total for that of volume sales," said Mr Oliver Rust, Managing Director, The Nielsen Company Hong Kong.
For two consecutive years, the average price of wine declined considerably in favor of the consumers; thereby continuously increasing the affordability of savoring good wine for Hong Kong households and boosting the momentum of sales for the wine category.
"In 2009, we have seen an obvious price polarization within the wine category with a stronger skew towards wines priced below HK$130 per bottle. This segment has outgrown premium wines in the past year with its volumes increasing 21 percent. This phenomenon echoes back to the sentiment of frugal consumers during the first half of 2009," Mr Rust commented.
In addition, it is also worth noting that there is a strong emerging trend of wine being purchased for consumption during the festive seasons. The negative market sentiment last year did not dampen Hong Kong consumers' enthusiasm to purchase wine as gifts for their family and friends during the Chinese New Year and Christmas with almost a third of annual sales coming from these two festivals. "Due to the increasing importance of these festive occasions, retailers dedicated more shelf space to wine during these periods and offered a larger product range as well, in order to win over shoppers," added Mr Rust.
According to Nielsen ScanTrack, Hong Kong's strong wine growth in 2009 was driven predominantly by Red Wine, which grew by 16 percent in volume over 2008. Among which, Red wine from Australia and the USA continued to be dominant and drove the majority of wine market growth. White wine ranked second in the market by growing at 12 percent over 2008, with the most popular and fast growing products coming from New Zealand and Chile. Apart from still wines, Sparkling Wines also sustained their popularity by growing at 7 percent.
As we saw the economy continuing to rebound in 2010, it is anticipated that the demand for wine will continue to be buoyant. Given that Hong Kong's wine market is still developing at an early stage, key areas that could fuel business momentum include category management with key retailers, understanding the consumption trends to cater to new product development and accurately being able to identify methods useful in forecasting the growth trend of the category.
"As the industry leader in measuring what consumers buy and what consumers watch, Nielsen looks to leverage our global expertise, to partner with the industry players to help facilitate further growth in the category," said Mr Rust.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related assets. The privately held company is active in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com 
