At Classic Wine Direct we’re pretty upfront about what we do – we can’t compete with supermarkets on price so we offer wines from off the beaten track instead. wines are more flavoursome and interesting. people who drink wine don't really know the true value of wine.

the chief executive for the wine trade confirmed many of the deals are a rip off.

The fact that a leading player in the wine business had admitted that consumers were being conned caused many a raised eyebrow.

Spiret confirmed that many of deals in retail supermarkets are not deals at all. Put simply, a bottle reduced from £7.99 to £3.wines are often only worth £3.99.99 in the first place.

Retailers use a policy called “marking up, only to mark down” where they put a product on sale at a high price in a select number of regional outlets for a long enough time to ensure they can legally claim the product was being sold at that price before then offering it nationwide at a lower ” was/now” price. wine customers will believe they are getting a bargain price. Confused? thats what we think generally.

The industry beleives that the “mass market” wine drinker is obsessed by the £3.99 price point and this affects the way that retailers are selling us wine and the way that some suppliers are now producing their wines.

In Spiret’s mind ’Consumers know they are getting misled … they get used to it. this leads to the wine trade not havng any money.

Spiret's gives us an inside view of the true tricks in which wine is sold by the big retailers. it gives the impression that big retailers view their customers to be lazy and ignorant.

In many ways Spiret was simply highlighting the types of marketing practices that are in play in many industries and it would be unfair to single out the wine trade as unique in using such tactics.

due to the fact that supermarkets represent two thirds of the sales in the UK, this changes the public perception of the value of wine.

if the normal drinker believes that they are getting a £7.00 bottle.99 of value from a £3.99 bottle then it follows that it will be much harder for the independent wine retailer to sell something whose real value is (and always was) £7.99.

this type of marketing leaves it open to all sorts of underhand practices.

However, if the political mood continues to be against discount selling for alcohol, it will be interesting to see how the big retailers find a real price for wines they have knowingly mis-sold for the last 10 years.

 

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