Consumers preferences in emerging markets and export strategies:the case of the Russian wine market

In recent years Russia has been experiencing significant economic growth with an average annual GDP increase higher than six percent. This economic boost has affected the demand for goods, especially for food. In the agro-food sectors, the wine industry is amongst those most affected by this change in consumer demand. Russia wine import has widened to cover a large range of wines spanning from low to high quality, and importing from countries with a long and well established wine production reputation, such as French and Italy, as well as more recently established exporters, such as Chile. These imports now accompany those from countries with a well-consolidated tradition of exports into the Russian market, like Georgia. In such a scenario, some key questions arise for the wine industry, concerning consumers' attitude about wine and the way it is perceived in this relatively new market. Russian wine market shows a very articulated supply resulting in a wide assortment. This paper attempts to investigate such concerns through a choice experiment approach conducted by means of a questionnaire-based survey submitted to a representative sample of 388 Russian households. In the experiment, respondents were asked to choose their favourite wine among seven dry red wines hypothetically displayed on a store shelf. Each product was described as imported from different countries or regions. The choice set included: 1. Italy (Chianti), 2. France (Bordeaux) 3. Crimea (Grenache) 4. Georgia (dry Saperavi) 5. Spain (Riojia) 6. Sicily (Cabernet) 7. Chile (Cabernet). To each bottle of wine was attached a different price. The stated choices are analysed using a random utility model to derive estimates of preferences for wine. Results indicate that the Russian wine market is clearly polarised into two segments. One is characterised by high-quality and high-priced wine and the other one by low-quality and high-priced ones. Price seems to be, as expected, a relevant attribute for Russian consumers. A successful growth business strategy should be based on the middle-quality-priced segment educating consumers to wine culture and tasting. The high-quality-priced segment is, in fact, characterized by a high degree of saturation due to Italian and French wines. Meanwhile, staking on the low-quality-priced segment is unadvisable because of the high number of suppliers and competitors.