French wine industry- Domaine de la Chouette

Résumé du document

Domaine de la Chouette is a young French wine company, founded in 2000 by Thierry Dumas and Valérie Hulot. The vineyard is located in the south of the Graves appellation, in the south west of France. 5 hectares are dedicated to the standard red wine AOC Graves rouge and 0.5 hectare produces the grapes for the dessert wine, AOC Graves supérieures, and a dry white, Graves sec. It is a quite little domain which was selected as one of the new talents in France by “The revue du Vin” thanks to the quality of its wines and its philosophy: The values of the South Gironde way of life, a traditional way of work (working with the environment and the rhythm of the seasons) associated with modern techniques, a unique terroir and a wine produces in a mixed environment with birds, insects and forests. Thierry and Valérie decided to use the slogan “a rare wine for unique people”, a catch phrase which reflects the positioning and the essence of the brand.

Although Fenella Davis (from New Zealand) and Peter Antkowiak (from USA) joined the partnership, DdlC stays a quite familial company with limited resources. The firm actually sells 95% of its wines directly to individuals at retails prices and 5% to restaurants of the region at small discount. Thierry and Valérie foresee a significant increase in volume: Whereas they was a production level of 7 000 bottles per year until 2008, there will be 16 500 bottles of 2009 Graves rouge available in summer 2011 for the classic (12 000 bottles) and summer 2012 for the premium (4 500 bottles). Moreover, 2009 is recognized as an exceptional year in South Gironde. Thanks to these positive factors, the owners would like to benefit from new opportunities and reach new objectives.

Extraits

[...] Objectives Globally, we expect to sell bottles (of classic red wine) in Romandy in one year. (February 2011 February 2012). In order to determine this objective, we took account the volume of production of DdlC ( bottles of classic red wine produced in 2009 and available in 2011), the potential of the Swiss wine market and the impact of our future marketing actions. Precisely we plan to sell: - bottles in Geneva : 800 in wine bars and 400 in independent wine stores - 800 bottles in Lausanne: 400 in wine bars and 400 in independent wine stores Marketing Strategy •Target We will sell to wine bars and independent wine stores whereas in France we principally sell directly to individuals. [...]

[...] New acquisitions enable to increase the volume of the production and to add a dry white to the range. The owners are now looking to attain two objectives: Diversifying their revenues and developing long-term relationships with their customers. In order to reach those goals, it is vital to design a marketing plan: This tool has to be seen as a recommendation which clearly communicates a plan and gains support for it. In this paper, we'll elaborate a long-term strategy for DdlC by conducting in a first time a marketing audit and then by designing a marketing plan, where we'll develop a large collection of different ideas related to promotion, advertising, packaging, and distribution channel. [...]

[...] Then we will develop two plans, one for each objective. A plan to diversify DdlC's revenues The first objective is to diversify revenues. DdlC will develop a wider customer base, in particular in terms of new export markets and increase recognition of DdlC wines Opportunities In general, diversifying revenues is a source of security for a company. It is safer when a company is not dependent of one product or market. In this case, DdlC is totally dependent of the French market in which the competition is fierce and the wine-drinking is declining. [...]

[...] Our products will be packaged by bottle, by case of 6 or 12. →Price We will increase a little bit the price of the wines because we will offer better customer relationships. Prices are higher than in Switzerland because we sell directly to the final customers in France Classic Graves Rouge: 9.95 Euros (retail price) 2009 Premium Graves Rouge: 18 Euros (retail price) →Place Customers will be able to buy DdlC's wines directly in our vineyard or our new website. [...]

[...] This is what we will do in the first step. But we will also design a new strategy to create powerful relationships with French customers. Objectives Within the French market, we expect to sell bottles of classic red wine in 2011 and bottles of premium red wines in 2012. Marketing Strategy •Target In a first time, we will target the individuals on the French market because it generally requires significant financial resources to build a credible strategy to target the professionals on a giant wine market such as France. [...]