Analysis and data to help you buy and sell better
The situation surrounding the impact and spread of Covid-19 in the UK and around the world is changing so fast The Buyer has set up this rolling updates service to keep you abreast of the latest official guidelines and recommendations from the government, but also the individual steps that businesses are taking to keep trading and help their customers do the same. This is Part Three of our Covid-19 blog that starts on May 1 with latest insights, stats, and drinks trade reaction.
When The Buyer came together with Sophie Jump to organise and hold the inaugural One Step Beyond Conference in early March the focus was 100% on analysing the most disruptive changes in consumer behaviour and technology. Little did we know that just over two months on so many of those changes have now been put on fast forward because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Here is the full report from what was a breakthrough conference for the drinks, retail and hospitality sectors. A day that brought experts from outside the industry’s comfort zone and gave them the platform to set out what we can all expect from consumers and technology in the future. Predictions that are already being seen in how fast businesses and consumers alike are responding to the challenges of Covid-19.
In the first part of our report on the debate we held – pre lockdown – with leading importers and buyers on the prospects of New York State wines in the UK, we took an overview of the region and what makes its wines potentially unique, before assessing what the UK panel’s initial impressions were of the state’s wines. In this second part we look at the recommendations they would give producers on how best to promote their wines here, as well as hear their thoughts on the styles of wines that they think are most likely to make it big in the UK as well as back home in New York and the US.
The situation surrounding the impact and spread of Covid-19 in the UK and around the world is changing so fast The Buyer has set up this rolling updates service to keep you abreast of the latest official guidelines and recommendations from the government, but also the individual steps that businesses are taking to keep trading and help their customers do the same. This is Part Two of our Covid-19 blog that starts on April 8 with latest insights, stats, and drinks trade reaction.
Now New Yorkers are hardly renown for their quiet and unassuming manner. You can normally hear one coming from a block or two away. But its winemakers, up until very recently, have been particularly shy compared to their counterparts on the West Coast. That’s all about to change as New York State becomes one of the most coveted regions in the US for aspiring winemakers to make wine. The next step is telling buyers outside the US about the wines they are missing out on, which is what the latest The Buyer’s debate with key importers was all about.
The situation surrounding the impact and spread of Covid-19 in the UK and around the world is changing so fast The Buyer has set up this rolling updates service to keep you abreast of the latest official guidelines and recommendations from the government, but also the individual steps that businesses are taking to keep trading and help their customers do the same. This is Part One of our Covid-19 blog that records the events and trade reaction over the days in March leading up to the closing of all bars and restaurants and subsequent national lockdown in the UK
South Africa stands alone in the world with the unwanted burden of being the only major wine producing country that has had to cope with the complete halt in any domestic wine sales, and for weeks a ban on movement of wine that stopped global exports too. Wine might now once again, at least, be leaving its ports, but what short and long term damage has the Covid-19 lockdown already had on its wine industry? Major South African wine figures came together to openly discuss their futures as part of a recent Real Business of Wine online debate. Richard Siddle listened in.
Few countries have such a strong tie to a single variety as New Zealand does to Sauvignon Blanc. From a standing start in the 1970s, the grape now accounts for 86% of the nation’s overseas sales. Last night, in the first in a series of webinars, trade body New Zealand Winegrowers asks if consumers and the trade can ‘get past the gooseberry’ to talk about the wine itself? With Jane Skilton MW in the chair and three master sommeliers John Szabo, David Keck and Ronan Sayburn making up the rest of the panel, this was a true masterclass, in the proper sense of the word, attended by 500 participants worldwide one of whom, Peter Ranscombe, has the story.
When it comes to the cork industry’s challenge to win the closures battle, one enormous boost has come in the findings of a Lifecycle Assessment study by Ernst & Young, which shows as scientific fact how cork stoppers can reduce by a quarter the total carbon footprint of an average bottle of still table wine and by almost half that of a bottle of sparkling wine. Mike Turner talks to world-leading cork supplier Amorim, which commissioned the study, and suggests that for an industry that has often been forced into owning a narrative, the carbon footprint argument sits neatly with an already impressive record of sustainability and biodiversity.
As China slowly emerges from its own Covid-19 lockdown and quarantine period the world wants to know what life is now like there and what changes the virus has had on how people are starting to behave. In this fascinating article, Janet Wang explores how months of being cooped up at home has created a whole new way of being socially interactive living in the ‘cloud’ – or ‘Yun – where people are preferring to still go online for work, mixing with their family, or in their social lives – even signing up for virtual holidays – and how it has helped create new business models and revenue streams for drinks companies, bars, restaurants and retailers.
“It takes six weeks for a new habit to be formed. Habits formed within this lockdown will take a while to shift.” This is one of the stand out lines in new research by KAM Media in its fascinating new ‘The Post Corona Consumer’ report. As part of its work analysing changes to consumer behaviour and their spending habits in both the on-trade and convenience sectors, it has been able to track and assess what impact this crisis is likely to have on what general consumer emerges once we go back to whatever new normal awaits us.
With the cancellation of the En Primeur campaign and a recent cold snap that included snow, Bordeaux is having its fair share of issues right now, quite apart from the Covid-19 tragedy being played out across France. From her Lockdowned base, world Bordeaux expert Jane Anson speaks to The Buyer at length about the current climate as well as the scope of her new, eagerly-awaited book Inside Bordeaux which, clocking in at 700 pages with 60-plus maps, many of them gate-fold, is one of the most comprehensive books ever written on the region. What makes Bordeaux tick; the under-the-radar estates that sommeliers should make a beeline for … plenty of terrific insight in this revealing, in-depth interview.
The actions you take now as a brand, retailer or drinks business will have a long term impact on how you are regarded as a company to trust by your customers, according to the latest findings in the highly respected global Edelman Trust Barometer report. It asked 12,000 consumers in 12 key markets to assess their attitudes and responses to what steps brands and companies are taking to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. It makes for fascinating reading. How does your business stand up to what consumers might expect from you?
The impact of the Covid-19 virus continues to wreak havoc across the drinks and hospitality sectors as 1000s of individuals and 100s of companies have seen their world turned upside down in a matter of weeks, if not days. To help those most in financial need The Drinks Trust has set up an emergency Covid-19 relief fund. Here’s how you can help by donating money, how the scheme is going to work and what individuals can do to apply to receive grants from April 6.
For all the efforts everyone in the drinks industry is taking to do what they can to keep sales going and products flowing they all rely on the smooth running of the global drinks distribution business. With so many lockdowns in countries across the world, the situation is becoming more complex to keep on top. To provide the trade with the latest information, global logistics provider, Hillebrand has released the latest data on the supply chain conditions in all the main countries around the world.
As the on-trade has effectively shut down across large parts of Europe, South America and now the United States, in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, it has left thousands of restaurant staff, sommeliers, and bartenders in limbo and stuck at home. The latest online Real Business of Wine Forum talked to senior sommelier figures to see what advice they had to keep their colleagues active, occupied, or, better still, to help find new ways to make money.
As we all come to terms with the enormity of the coronavirus outbreak around the world, The Buyer is looking to play its part by sharing practical information about what the drinks, retail and hospitality sectors are being asked to do, along with individual stories of what businesses are doing to support each other through what are going to be come increasingly difficult times. Here’s our update on the latest situation and what steps businesses are taking now and could do in the future.
In the first part of our report on the debate The Buyer held to discuss what leading wine buyers, merchants and restaurateurs think about the possibilities for Prosecco DOCG in the premium on-trade, we looked at how and why more outlets might list different styles of Prosecco Superiore. Here we give the time and space for those buyers to go into more detail and share their thoughts on how sparkling wine is performing in general and the opportunities they think that Prosecco DOCG has on restaurant wine lists in the future.
Although still somewhat immature as a wine category, German rosé has almost doubled in production over the past decade – up to 12% of all German wine production. Because German Pinot Noir is the third highest planting of the variety worldwide we can expect to see a lot more of German rosé, writes Simon Field MW, especially with so many quality winemakers making both high-end and commercial, populist styles. On a press trip entitled Think Pink! Field was introduced to a plethora of wines that showed many of the issues facing German rosé – most notably name and style – as it strives to forge its own identity in this fascinating category.
The hardest job for any wine producer, no matter how prestigious or respected, is getting their wines in front of the right buyers who can ultimately make the difference in getting their wines on to the lists of the restaurants and bars that really matter. That’s what The Buyer’s Case project does. Link producers looking to build distribution in the premium on-trade and specialist retail sector with key buyers in those channels. Here’s how major French producer, Boisset FGV worked with The Buyer on its own Buyer’s Case initiative.
