Enjoying a glass of rosé has become quite the trend in recent times. Check your social media today and you may well see a ‘rosé all day’ post from a trendy looking millennial. Older drinkers too are embracing the pink revolution.
Shoppers over 55 today account for half of those buying rosé off-premise. Still, for all its popularity, the category ranks only 29th out of 32 in-stores for overall shopper satisfaction. So why does it struggle to meet shoppers’ expectations?
There’s a close correlation between shopper satisfaction and sales performance. Higher satisfaction categories tend to enjoy higher sales. When sales are growing but satisfaction lags, the category could be doing even better. So, the fact rosé ranks as one of the worst categories for shopper satisfaction is a big deal.
It’s important to put this in perspective. Rosé performs better than the average wine category on product measures. They include things like delivery of healthy choices and premium options, both of which are hot topics in liquor right now. It also outperforms other wine varietals in terms of overall product quality. This is good news given quality outranks price to be the most important factor to rosé shoppers.
Yet there are aspects that could be improved. Rosé receives the lowest score on availability of any category in the store. Shoppers feel they are often unable to find their preferred choice in stock. There is room for improvement here but bear in mind that rosé also scores lowest for the importance of availability. It is the most impulsive category of all, and shoppers often have more than one brand in mind.
Range and layout are in fact the two areas requiring the most attention from retailers and suppliers in the rosé category. The combination of these factors is interesting and shows where the challenge in the category lies. ‘Range’ refers to a good choice of products in the category. ‘Layout’ talks to how readily shoppers can find what they’re looking for once they are standing at the fixture. The issue here is with navigation. Shoppers are struggling at the shelf to find the products they want. In fact, this category ranks third out of 32 for shoppers’ desire to see better signage at shelf.
By making the category easier to shop, there is a great opportunity for it to enjoy even more growth than it has to date. It’s a strong basket builder and shoppers are especially open to buying an extra item in rosé because they want to try something different. Help them explore the range and the sales should follow.
There are a few months to go before peak rosé season returns. Instagram will again be awash with pink wine sipped at sundown. Now’s the time to put shoppers at the heart of the conversation and ensure your brand is the one they’re sipping.
This article was written by David Shukri, Senior Insight Director, Shopper Intelligence for the August issue of National Liquor News, which can be read in full online here.