Opportunities to engage with Chinese wine consumers

As reported last month, China is now Australia’s highest value market for wine exports. Australian wine sits second by value for imported wines in China, with 23 per cent of total market share by value, and has the second highest average value per litre (US$6.36) of the top 10 importing countries (see the China Import Monitor).

Chinese wine consumers are becoming more interested, as well as more adventurous, in their wine consumption, with an increasing appetite for premium Australian wines. Wine Australia is funding a number of projects to understand wine consumer behaviour in China to help the Australian wine community to target its marketing strategies.

Engage with tourists about our fine wines

The number of Chinese visitors to Australia exceeded 1 million people for the first time in the 12 months to end November 2015 and visitors have more than doubled over the past five years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The results of a recent Wine Australia-funded project showed that Chinese tourists who were exposed to wine while visiting Australia are more likely to purchase Australian wine when they returned to China, and those who have been to Australia have a higher opinion of Australian wine than those who have not.

The results showed that better outcomes were achieved when the wine exposure was designed as part of Chinese visitors’ tourism experience, rather than just focusing on wine. However, study participants thought more highly of wine in a setting that was congruent to wine, such as a winery or restaurant, than in a general tourism setting.

The researchers argue that exposing Chinese wine consumers to Australian wine while they are in Australia is an effective way to shape their perceptions directly. As tourists come from many different cities/provinces in China, this allows Australian wine exporters to access markets across China.

However, the results also showed that wineries need to stay in touch after their visitors return home; tracking the tourists at 6 to 12 months after they left Australia showed that the positive impacts of their Australian experiences do erode over time. 

Submit bold, new, engaging and exciting ideas

Wine Australia is inviting the Australian grape and wine community to submit new, bold, exciting and engaging ideas to help increase wine exports and inbound tourism to wine regions through activities funded by the Australian Government’s Export and Regional Wine Support Package.