However, looking at the wine market in China, it is not the kind of situation that "events cast their shadows before them". Foreign brands have come, and enterprises in China are doing well. No matter in marketing or brand building, they all have their own square inch, which is far from slapstick.
Looking at the domestic market situation, it is actually a scene of going out and coming in. All major domestic brands have their own strategies, either joint ventures or mergers and acquisitions, to expand their inheritance and pave the way for winning their domestic status and entering the international market. While foreign brands try their best to enter China in different forms, either investing or purchasing. After years of testing the water, they can clearly see that coming to China must conform to the rules of the China market.
How big is the gap? Some people say that China's wine market share is obtained by marketing means, not by brand connotation to attract consumers, which is the biggest gap between Chinese and foreign wines.
In recent years, although the proportion of China wine in the market share is still very large, it is undeniable that there is still a big gap between China wine and the top foreign brands. Wang Zuming, Secretary-General of Wine Branch, may have pointed out the crux: "One of the main problems in China wine market is that it is too homogeneous and lacks distinctive personality. In addition to historical reputation, the most important thing that determines the value of wine is quality, including raw materials and vintage. If more innovation can be added to the taste of wine, China wine will develop faster. "
In addition, from the perspective of the sales process, for example, in France, the whole process from manufacturers to consumers is completed by a perfect agency system. Enterprises should try their best to reduce production costs, and wine merchants should sell wine full-time-integrating circulation resources. Enterprises, businesses and terminals each earn a certain price difference, which fluctuates around an interval (about 10% ~ 30%). On the contrary, in China, market consumption changes very quickly. Market intervention requires a lot of public relations expenses, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the cost of market intervention is sometimes higher than the production cost. These high-priced expenditures were eventually passed on to consumers.
"The biggest gap is to attract consumers only by marketing means, not by connotation." Li Demei, chief winemaker of Sino-French Manor, commented on the wine market in China.
The connotation of wine covers many factors such as origin, culture and so on. As far as connotation is concerned, China wine is just a beginner, as an industry veteran said: "As far as wine is concerned, China is still a primary school graduate."
Producing area: Some people say that this is the biggest gap between Chinese and foreign wines. Why? Because the wine industry has always had the saying of "seven ingredients and three techniques", good grapes have strict requirements for living conditions, such as sunshine, climate, soil and other natural conditions. In addition, wine is a comprehensive industry of planting and processing. Compared with the current agricultural industrialization in China, the wine industry is more integrated. The relationship between raw materials and processing is not only a simple relationship between supply and demand, but also a closer relationship based on wine quality. In foreign countries, wine production is completed in one manor, while in China, it is good for many wineries to have relatively stable bases, but there is still a disconnect between production, processing and sales, which will inevitably affect the quality of wine. The gap between Chinese and foreign wines lies in the "producing area". Not only is the origin characteristic not prominent, the product homogeneity is serious, and the variety regionalization is not obvious. In the vineyards of China, the single variety of Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for almost 50%, and the single variety of raw materials also exposes the weakness of China wine.
Culture: Wine embodies many cultural elements such as history, region and art, and wine culture pays attention to connotation. As Ron Geogiou, an international wine master, said, "A grape can tell the climate, soil and winemaking methods, as well as the culture, history, music, art and food of different times and places." In China, most of these cultural elements are related to liquor, which leads to the cultural differences between Chinese and foreign wines.
Wine itself is a product used to meet the needs of consumers. In this respect, there should be no distinction between China and foreign countries. The difference is only the difference between production and consumption forms. It is this diversification of production and consumption that has spawned wine consumption cultures with different styles in various countries around the world.