L'explosion des ventes de BIB

3L Boxed Wine Sales Take Off
Source : Wine Business

Sales of wine sold in the three-liter bag-in-box format have taken off, jumping about 160 percent between March 29, 2003 and March 26, 2005 in ACNielsen-tracked retail channels.* It should be noted, however, that the entire three-liter segment accounts for just 0.7 percent of the total dollar sales and 1.3 percent of the total volume of wine sales through ACNielsen-tracked channels, so these huge increases are coming off a very small base.

Looking at price points, the data becomes even more interesting. Most of the growth has come from boxed wines priced at more than $12. In the 13 weeks ending March 29, 2003, the $12 to $15.99 segment was just a tiny fraction of the overall segment (0.6 percent), and wines over $16 per box were virtually non-existent (see Chart 1 below). By March 2005, the $12 to $15.99 segment was responsible for 17 percent of the category while the over-$16 segment accounted for about 24 percent.

The average price of the boxed wine has also steadily increased, by about 42 percent. In March 2003 the average price of the three-liter box wine was $8.12; by March 2005 that price was $11.50 and rising (see Chart 2, above).

However, some contend that ACNielsen data just hint at how successful this category is. "The ACNielsen data is very conservative because it is eliminating a lot of data in specialty wine chains," said Roberta Morris of Scholle Corporation, one of the leading manufacturers of bag-in-box packaging. "What we have found is that most of the sales in this category are in specialty wine shops. It is just now hitting in supermarkets—the early growth was in stores like Beverages & More!."

However, Chris Indelicato, CEO of Delicato Vineyards, producers of the three-liter Bota Box, said that in his experience, supermarkets were "very heavy on the three-liter box. That's your number one channel for that packaging." Indelicato specifically cited nationally distributed brands as drivers of the category.

Pacific Wine Partners developed the premium three-liter segment in the United States with the 2003 launch of their Hardy's Stamp of Australia and Banrock Station brands (which are also available in 750ml bottles) and acquisition of Black Box, a California boxed wine company founded by Ryan Sproule in early 2003. As of mid-May of this year, the PWP three-liter boxed wine brands account for 54 percent of the total dollar sales in the category, according to data provided to the company.

Damon Musha, marketing director at PWP overseeing Black Box, has seen the brand achieve success without much support from grocery stores. "If you look at Black Box now, if you look at it from a nine-liter equivalent, we're on track to sell 400,000 to 500,000 cases for the next fiscal year," said Musha. "It just kind of went along at its own clip, but every month was better than the last. It's like a roller coaster, where it just goes up and up, and we haven't hit the ultimate point yet where it starts to go down. I don't know what the potential is because we are just beginning to get into supermarkets. We are still at less than 20 percent distribution [in grocery stores]. There's still an opportunity for growth in that market."

"I think in supermarkets, the boxes that people are seeing are just the traditional brands and not the premium brands that have been emerging," said Marc Engel, the wine consultant at market research firm B/R/S Group. In the U.S., consumers tend to have a perception that boxed wines are low-quality products, which is not the case in many other countries. "I think peg and Consumer Perception

Conness Thompson, Carmenet brand manager at Foster's Wine Estates Americas, explained that boxed wines are just another opportunity for wineries to gain market share in the competitive fighting varietals category. "If you are in the upper end, you have something to contribute to the experience—like vineyards or a tasting room—but when you are playing with that everyday segment where you are not necessarily tied to anything, it is a lot harder to differentiate the brand," said Thompson.

The actual box design is, of course, a differentiator in the overall wine category, but producers are also seeking ways to be unique within the boxed wine category. Carmenet, which is also available in 750ml bottles, chose a hexagon-shaped box for their wine, created for them by Pacific Southwest Container (PSC).

Thompson said PSC had developed a number of "very cool" designs, but many of them did not work for their program. "We challenged them to come up with something that could still be automatable, that could still run on a line without problems but was a different shape. When you are addressing consumer needs, trying to deliver wine that's above the cut, how do you differentiate yourselves in the market? What was appealing about the hexagon is that it has the same footprint as a 1.5-liter bottle, but it is a little shorter. So for consumers who are already putting a 1.5-liter bottle in their refrigerator, this is not going to take up any more space," she said.

"Carmenet has a very unusual box, it's stunning actually but because they have that unusual height and shape, it's more difficult," said Morris.

Delicato chose their brightly colored rectangular package design for easy brand recognition, stability and communication with consumers. "They are all color-packed, color-coded by varietal. We're aiming at the more upscale and sophisticated wine users that want to try something new and exciting. We feel this attracts people in the trial group, who are always willing to try new things," said Indelicato.

The quality of the bag-in-box packaging for protection of the wine is what appealed to Andrew Browne, CEO of Precept Brands, which has three brands, Washington Hills, Avery Lane and El Paseo, sold in the boxed format in the U.S. "Bag-in-a-box is not anything new or revolutionary—but it is a great vehicle to deliver any type of quality wine," he said. He explained that given the current retail environment, where wines are subjected to quality-detracting elements, such as temperature fluctuations and fluorescent lighting, boxes protect wines better than any other packaging could. "With a bag-in-a-box you aren't getting any of that. From a qualitative standpoint, we thought this makes sense," he said.

"I think the next important thing is that the gatekeepers, the ones that actually decide if the consumers ever see this, are the [distributors]. There had to be buy-in there," continued Browne. "Most of the gatekeepers are very on-board with the category. I think the challenge we face today is the consumer perception. They have a preconceived notion that what comes in a box is ordinary. I think that that is still the question mark that is out there for the category."

Engel believes that consumer sensitivity towards boxed wine is improving. "In terms of consumer perception, there seems to be more openness to departures in consumer packaging, with screw caps and synthetics and now boxes," he said. "If they see a brand they know, and it is in a package they are comfortable with, then they are willing to make the shift. Our sense is that trial is the key to acceptance. Once they taste it, and they say, 'Hey, that's as good as I get in the glass bottle,

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