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Growing wine retail business. |
A Polish "wine war" has reportedly begun, with local media describing the tussle between leading discount chains Biedronka and Lidl to win over more affluent wine lovers. The retailers decided to broaden their wine offer with fine wines costing over Euros10 per unit.
Essentially, they want to attract wealthier customers and break with their image of offering wines at low cost and of low quality. They also want to further reduce the power of Polish importers that used to command most of the market.
Both chains have offered a choice of wines up to a modest Euros5. Now they are trying to breach the higher end of the market, charging just 5% above the wholesale prices.
Inevitably, Polish wine buffs now buy their favourite Barolo or Chablis at the nearby Lidl and Biedronka instead of ordering it at one of the several online retailers, as most used to do.
Lidl and Biedronka have also been trying to win over Polish online wine bloggers, sending them incentive boxes of the best wines on offer.
Although the most popular bloggers are often very critical about the samples they receive, the mere mention of the company name in their entries attracts customers to the stores described.
However, most experts agree, smaller importers will have difficulty staying in the fast-consolidating market. In 2010, 20% of the Polish wine market was commanded by retail chains. That share has since ballooned, according to the business newspaper, Gazeta Prawna.
Most wines sold in Poland are imported from the Americas; however, these are the best recognised brands. In fact, the best-selling wine brand remains the modestly priced Carlo Rossi.
But Poles are also fond of wine brands such as Fresco, Sophia Sakar, Old Kadarka, Kadarka, Moldawska Dolina and Concha y Toro.
The country jumped to 14th place in the world ranking of wine importers and according to business reporting website wealth.pl, consumption will rise from 6.4 million litres last year to 107 million in 2016.
According to Ambra SA, a Polish exhibitor at the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Fair 2010, the value of the market exceeds Euros500 million.
Biedronka, owned by the Portuguese-based Jerónimo Martins, is said to be the most popular discount chain in Poland, managing 1,750 outlets. Lidl, which is Bidronka's largest competitor, currently has only about a third of that number of outlets, although it’s planning to run a chain of 3,000 stores by the end of 2013.
from Gabriela Chan, Warsaw Consultant
(Image courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/valentynvolkov)
