Written by Marie Servagnat on August 8, 2008
How does a consumer choose a product ? Eternal question asked by marketers around the world. In the area that concerns me, champagne, while it is difficult to have a definitive opinion, I have nevertheless isolated several parameters.
The first of these is, of course, the brand. Many customers come to buy a specific champagne, a particular vintage with only one criterion in mind: the price. Let us add in certain cases a second criterion: the service. These are customers who are hard to change their minds and who in essence move quickly from one site to another, depending on promotions.
The second criterion will be more at the level of the quality / price ratio. These customers have a few criteria in mind (I want a brand, I want a gift box ...), but their choice is not definitively made on this or that champagne. They will search the site in search of the rare pearl, the one that will meet their expectations, in particular that of the price. What will make these customers switch to one vintage or another? The comments of other customers, the delivery time or the pakaging. This is the least acceptable criterion for a wine, an area where you like to think of yourself as an expert, but who has never chosen a wine from their cellar because the packaging was nice? Champagne houses are also past masters in this area, regularly renewing their labels and licking their boxes and other cases particularly well. The pioneer in this field is the Veuve Clicquot house, which has always known how to highlight its vintages by collaborating with renowned designers. The other houses of the LVMH galaxy (Ruinart, Moët & Chandon, Krug…) are not left out and we have well assimilated the lessons of the big sister. Houses that also dominate the market, and this is no coincidence, even if the quality of their cuvées remains their first and main selling point.
As for winegrowers' champagnes, the lesson has been less well learned, perhaps because demand is lower among their customers, above all in search of a price and a habit. But also because the marketing, the packaging are not in their embarrassment, even if things change ... slowly ...
