No sacrifices on the export altar

HAPPS Wines Marketing Consultant Brian Jones is adamant that the wine exported by Happs will not be discounted to gain a market.

“There is absolutely no need to sell at less than our domestic price point when the market is expanding.

“Our domestic sales range is from $16 - $55 and we have no trouble exporting at that price,” he said.

For many wine producers wearing a hefty discount has been the price paid to break into an export market.

The reasoning has been, get into the market first and worry about better prices later.

In the present climate of oversupply in the wine industry, the pressure to maintain a steady cashflow has seen a lot of wine sold at close to, and sometimes well below, the cost of production.

The exercise falls down when attempts to increase the price to the overseas distributor fail.

“Although we export worldwide, UK and USA, the strongest enquiry for our product is coming out of the Asian region, including Japan, China and Malaysia.

“There is an increasing interest in better quality wines at our price points.

“In China there is a burgeoning population that is financially better off than in the past. They have the money and can afford to choose to buy a better product.

“Red wine is still the preference in China, but the gap between red and white is narrowing as a younger age group of consumers enters the market.”

Happs Wines have successfully established sales for red, white, pink and sweet wines in the Asian marketplace.