Engaging the Younger Consumer: Leveraging White Wines to Boost Millennial Recommendations in the Wine Market

By Quini Team August 12, 2024 Comments Off

In wine marketing, understanding the preferences of different generational cohorts can significantly impact brand success especially as younger generations seem to be less interested in wine than older generations, like Gen X consumers and Baby Boomers.

According to the 2024 Silicon Valley Bank report, State of the US Wine Industry 2024, “58 percent of the consumers over age 65 favored wine over other alcoholic beverages. Everyone else indexes almost thirty points lower” (McMillan, 2024). Millennials were the lowest, with only 16 percent claiming they would bring wine to a party.

Understanding Millennial Recommendations

To investigate this issue, Quini data collected from wine tastings utilizing the Quini app was analyzed across generational cohorts. Total score and recommendation score values were analyzed, with the recommendation value being how likely the taster is to recommend the wine, while the total score reflecting the overall rating that tasters give for the wine.

The conclusion is that Millennials tend to give higher recommendation scores for white wines compared to red, relative to their total scores. Likable white wines on average receive a higher score from Millennials for tasters’ willingness to recommend a wine, compared to red wines.

Data Scope and Analysis

Averages of Quini taster scores were collected and organized by wine type, and a ratio of recommendation score to total score was used for comparison. Overall, the dataset comprised 12,494 consumer wine reviews across 232 products. Specifically for Millennials, the analysis covered 6,292 reviews of 197 products, spanning 23 different varietals. The data represents a diverse range of markets, including review data primarily across the United States and Canada, genders, ethnicities, and wine producing countries covered in the Quini database.

Key Finding

On average, Millennials rated white wines higher for recommendations than red wines. This seven percent difference demonstrates the slight, but important edge white wine enjoys with this demographic.

This insight is crucial for wine marketers and the industry as a whole. Tapping a higher probability success strategy for a new consumer’s first experience with wine can make a significant impact on adoption and industry growth. While this approach may be intrinsically obvious to many, having the data to reinforce marketing efforts and messaging can go a long way.

Recommendations

To leverage this information effectively, wine marketers should consider the following strategies:

Prioritize White Wine Promotion: Given the higher likelihood of Millennials recommending white wines, marketers should leverage this wine type as the primary entry window to engage millennials. Highlighting white wines more prominently can align marketing efforts with the preferences of this demographic.

Create Engaging Content: Develop engaging and educational content that highlights the attributes of white wines. This could include blog posts, social media campaigns, and video content that explores the history, production process, and tasting notes of different white wines.

Enhance Product Visibility: Ensure that white wines are more visible in retail spaces and online platforms frequented by Millennials. This can involve better shelf placement, more prominent listings on e-commerce sites, dedicated sections for white wines, and promotions with influencers.

Exclusive Offers and Events: Organize tasting events and offer special incentives on white wines. These initiatives allow Millennials to try new wines, encouraging them to explore and recommend them to friends and with that improve millennials interest in wine.

Loyalty Programs: Develop loyalty programs that reward Millennials for recommending white wines. Points, discounts or exclusive offers for those who share their positive experiences with your white wines can motivate further recommendations and brand loyalty while attracting new buyers to wine.

By leveraging these insights and strategies, wine marketers can better cater to Millennial preferences, enhancing recommendations and strengthening brand engagement in a competitive wine while helping to grow the industry.

Conclusion and Next Steps

In our next post, we’ll dive deeper into the data, breaking down varietal preferences among younger versus older Millennials. Don’t miss out—subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when this insightful analysis is published!

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