Consumers are largelyoverwhelmed by the wine category, according to Project Genome: Home & Habits, the latest phase of the groundbreaking consumer research study commissioned by Constellation Brands.

In October 2005, Constellation released the first phase of the research, which asked consumers to self-report wine purchases over the previous 30 days. The study found that consumers fall into six unique segments with differing attributes, motivations, preferences and shopping behaviors. Those six segments are: Enthusiast, Image Seeker, Savvy Shopper, Traditionalist, Satisfied Sipper and Overwhelmed.

The latest phase of the study used data gathered over a period of 18 months from 10,000 wine buyers in The Nielsen Company's Homescan consumer purchase panel, which provides consumers with a home scanner to record all purchases. The participants were chosen because they were classified as "premium wine consumers," meaning they had previously purchased wine costing $5 or more, a threshold that was chosen in order to filter out jug and low-end boxed wine consumers.

Additionally, panelists also completed an online survey that classified them into one of the previously defined segments.

"It's important for all of us to remember that there's no such thing as a typical wine consumer," said José Fernandez, chief executive officer at Constellation Wines North America. "We want to make sure that we as a company, and also to the extent we can work with our trading partners, understand how we can speak meaningfully to each type of consumer, to make sure we are addressing the desires of all six of these segments."

The data allowed Constellation to fine-tune the attributes of the six consumer segments as well as revealed the actual buying habits of those within those segments. The study also revealed which categories present the biggest opportunities for increased sales.

Enthusiasts

Enthusiasts represent 12 percent of consumers but account for 25 percent of all wine purchases, the highest of any consumer segment. "These consumers are knowledgeable and passionate about the total wine experience," said Leslie Joseph, vice president, consumer research and consumer affairs at Constellation Wines U.S. "They have a very large shopping basket of other premium items. They feel wine is a global experience and drink wine from around the world. Enthusiasts also appreciate any information we can share with them about their wines."

Nearly all Enthusiasts, 98 percent, buy wine priced $6 or more, a segment that accounts for 56 percent of their purchases. They are also large-format consumers as 47 percent buy wine in the 1.5-liter format, which accounts for 20 percent of their wine volume.

Image Seeker

For the Image Seeker, wine is a status symbol, one of many these consumers use to help define who they are to the world. With an average age of 35, "this is one of the youngest consumer groups, so they are still learning about the wine category," said Joseph. Image Seekers tend to want to impress friends with their wine knowledge, so they use the Internet to find information about wine or to research wine lists at restaurants, have embraced new packaging and closures and are eager to try new brands, varietals and countries. These consumers also believe the price is a good indicator of quality.

Image Seekers account for 20 percent of consumers and 24 percent of wine purchases. More than 60 percent of these consumers have purchased wine in grocery stores. Merlot is the most popular varietal among these consumers, accounting for 20 percent of their purchases while Pinot Noir is far down on their list of varietals.

Savvy Shopper

The Savvy Shopper enjoys shopping for wine (in addition to other products), visiting a variety of stores in order to find the best deal. They are aware of any coupons or markdowns and, if offered, are more likely to purchase six bottles of wine at once to take advantage of an additional discount. "This is a consumer, much like the Enthusiast, who is very knowledgeable about wine but, unlike the Enthusiast, this consumer is very much about self-discovery," said Joseph. "They like to browse around, stumble on things and definitely make their own decisions. They are a very heavy consumer group."

Savvy Shoppers are 15 percent of consumers as well as account for 15 percent of wine purchases. These consumers, however, bought 67 bottles of wine during the 18-month study, second only to the Enthusiasts in the amount of wine purchased.

Traditionalist

The Traditionalist accounts for 16 percent of all consumers and 15 percent of wine purchases. True to their name, these consumers have been raised on traditional values and value things that have a history to them. "When it comes to wine, they really feel that established wineries have perfected the art of winemaking, and they really look for these brands," said Joseph. "One of the things that attracts them the most is being offered a wide variety of well-known national brands."

Advertising is very effective in reaching consumers in this category, but they oftentimes do not want to try a new brand. If they cannot easily find their favorite brands, they will bypass the category completely. Despite their unwillingness to try new brands, these consumers are willing to spend money on wines they want: wine priced $8 and above accounts for 25 percent of their volume.

Satisfied Sippers

Accounting for 14 percent of consumers and 8 percent of purchases (lowest of any category), Satisfied Sippers do not know much about wine and tend to buy the same, usually domestic, brand. "They view wine very much in the same way a lot of families might view Coca-Cola or iced tea. They drink wine all the time, and it's just a part of their life," said Joseph. "They're not very involved with the category. They know exactly what kind of wine they want, where it's located, and they just grab it and put it into their cart and go."

Typically, these consumers "don't enjoy the experience of buying wine," said Joseph, so they frequently choose 1.5-liter format wines. They are heavy warehouse shoppers as they like to stock up on the wines they like. They want their favorite brands to be easy-to-find and are upset if that wine is out of stock. They ignore shelf talkers or signs, and they are also disinclined to learn more about wine.

Overwhelmed

The final category, Overwhelmed, accounts for 23 percent of consumers (largest of any segment) but just 13 percent of purchases. "They are very much overwhelmed with the entire wine buying decision," said Joseph. "When they go down the wine aisle and they see hundreds and hundreds of items, they're just completely confused. They don't know where to start, and they don't know where to stand."

These consumers, however, enjoy wine and are looking to learn more about the category. They want information at retail that's simple and easy to understand, and are likely to be confused with information about details about winemaking techniques or barrel types and aging. Overwhelmed consumers are looking for assistance and advice at the point of purchase; if they are confused or don't have any information, they will forego the wine purchase altogether.

In the first study, Overwhelmed consumers reported that they were frequent White Zinfandel consumers. With actual purchase data, however, these consumers are far more diverse in their purchase habits. Though 36 percent have purchased blush wines or White Zinfandel (accounting for 31 percent of total volume for the segment), 80 percent have purchased white wine (43 percent of volume) and 77 percent have bought red wine (26 percent of total wine volume).

"The Overwhelmed consumer only buys wine about once every other month, so there's a very big opportunity to get this consumer engaged more with the category," said Joseph. "If you look at some of the other segments, those people are buying wine maybe once every four or five weeks. I feel like the big opportunity is to get incremental sales from the Overwhelmed consumers and help make the buying decision easier for them. They are such a big group, that's where we could incrementally move the needle by helping them find what they want to drink."

"Clearly increasing the per-capita consumption among groups like Overwhelmed is our biggest opportunity," said Fernandez. "The numbers speak to that. In the Enthusiast, Savvy Shopper and Image Seeker categories, their consumption of wine is well over the average. So, if we can get them into wine as a regular part of their lives, instead of a relatively infrequent part of it, it's a big opportunity.

"We all tend to think our consumers are like ourselves, and we tend to use language that we think will be appealing to ourselves," continued Fernandez. "Particularly with the last two categories, Satisfied Sippers and Overwhelmed, I think it would be safe to say that as an industry we've under-communicated to these customers because so many of us within the industry don't fit into these categories."  wbm