The international marketing strategy of Léon Barde Vintage Wine company to enter the Chinese wine market

Résumé du document

France is attached to a sector which is an important part of its own identity : the sector of the wine. When you will ask one characteristic of our country to foreigners, the majority will answer Paris, the gastronomy, the luxurious, maybe the love but definitely also the wine. Since the nineties, the sector of wine has been touched by important changes due to many factors : consumption in decrease, crisis of the overproduction, competition with other alcoholic beverages, new competitors from countries such as United States, Spain, South America, Australia, etc...

The result : the French market knew a decrease after a continuous growth between 1993 and 1999 in term of volume but also in value. There were several attempts for finding new sources of incomes on the market : targeted younger consumers, developing brands with clear and definite identities, etc ... but the major ones which have been tested for making durable the business failed. Today, the main opportunities seem to come from the emergent countries which represent a great potential and a decisive key for the French wine sector.

With the perspective of growth, Asia is the new road of success of several companies and markets. Even if the perspectives and opportunities are real, the companies have to understand the market and the consumers and adapt their offer for succeeding. China (above all since the Olympic Games) is a large and important market with different consumers who have specific needs and expectations (specially in term of food and beverages). Many companies failed to enter in this market because of their strategic marketing plan (e.g : Danone). A bad planning will mean a huge failure.

Extraits

[...] "World Bank Raises China 2009 Growth Forecast to (Update3)." Bloomberg News June 2009. Web . "Economy of the People's Republic of China." Wikipedia. Web . Yan Luo. "Analysis of Culture and Buyer Behavior in Chinese Market." Ccsenet.org Jan Web . Managingthedragon.com. "Logo Danone/Wahaha: Failure to Create a Common Vision." Http://managingthedragon.com/?p=51. Web . China-britain.org. [...]

[...] The population below the poverty line is about 10% (2004). The main wealth is situated in the big cities (more developed than the rural areas).(2) - Political and legislation environment The current regime is communist with a government run by Hu Jintao. It is one political movement (communist) which has a specific view (influenced by the Confucianism) about the world (more pragmatic than before but still different compare to the capitalist countries). They were really closed to the world until 1990 but since the end of the twenty century, China opened its country to the foreign companies but it is still a particular place where you have to take in count and be aware of a lot of elements. [...]

[...] France and Australia export wine of quality which are more expensive compare to the others (represent 28,6% and 15,3% in value and 12% and in volume). It is exactly the contrary for Spain, Argentina and Chili which adopted a strategy of volume. The Chinese consumer and the wine The potential market is composed by : - 2 millions of foreigners and expatriates - 100 120 millions of potential Chinese employees for the third sector - 250 300 millions of people urbanized (middle class) Here is some characteristics about this new potential consumer. [...]

[...] It is sold such as an average consumer good but the production is complicated and uncertain. It is for instance impossible to make exactly the same wine each year. This data is important to understand the wine market. The products of LBVW are mainly: - Red wine White wine and Rose wine. This three kind of wines are available on each vineyards (for instance, “Barde's vineyard red “Barde's vineyard white wine” and “Barde's vineyard rose wine”). They are sold by type, by vineyard and by year (e.g :“Barde's vineyard 2009, red wine”). [...]

[...] The importation is also increasing at the same period. The imported wine is not affordable for the majority of the population: a bottle of Chinese wine is sold about 3 dollars compare to 10 dollars for an imported one. The distribution of wine in China We can list these actors : - The government wholesalers - The foreign wholesalers - Joint Ventures (Chinese / foreigners) - Supermarkets, retailers and Hostels The consumption of wine in China China is the 9th worldwide consumer of wine but it is really difficult to find exactly the real figures about the global consumption because it is not clearly indicated and defined. [...]