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Wilhelm Lerner will be analyzing at FENAVIN the best strategies in order to grow on the German market

The consultant, who is specialized in the winemaking industry, will be providing the Spanish wineries with the necessary keys in order to speed-up their growth in one of the most important markets for our wines

`Building Scale in the German Wine Market´ will be held in Ciudad Real on the upcoming May 11th

Wilhem Lerner, Graduate of Viniculture and Enology by the Geisenheim University and whose professional trajectory has taken place within the frame of commercialization of wine, marketing and strategic consulting, will be imparting a conference during the upcoming edition of FENAVIN, with the objective behind the lecture residing in providing the Spanish wineries with the necessary keys to achieve sound growth on the German market. The current Central Europe for Strategy and OrganizationRepresentative for the international consultancy firm Arthur D. Little will be analyzing the structure of the market and the German consumers, the current situation of Spanish wines in the same and the most effective strategies in order to obtain good positions within one of the markets that imports the most wine in the world.

With the title 'Building Scale in the German Wine Market', Wilhelm Lerner will be providing practical information about the main marketing and sales strategies that German wineries are currently carrying out. The German consultant, who will be presenting practical cases during the lecture, will also be providing a series of keys in order to take advantage of the potential that Spanish wines have on a market as competitive as the German one, in which regional wines, French wines and Italian wines share-out seventy percent of the total sales between each other.

Germany is the first wine importer country in the world per volume. Given the characteristics of its market, with important competition between German, Italian and French wines, entry of new actors in the game is indeed rather difficult. As affirmed by Wilhelm Lerner: "the demand for wine in the German market, following a period of important growth, has now stabilized. The good news is that the segment with the more reasonably priced wines is slowly growing". This is precisely the segment in which Spanish wines have more possibilities to position themselves, hence increasing the 8% market share that they currently represent.

As pointed out by the German consultant, two categories of consumers and market segments can be clearly distinguished in this country's wine market: "the first profile is that of consumers that normally make their purchases in food stores and large supermarkets. They have less experience and their main purchasing decisions are based on taste, price and the grape variety". The other category is formed by more knowledgeable consumers, who buy wine in specialized stores or directly from the winery; in their case the main purchase decision is based on the possibility of trying the wine before buying it, the region of origin and the grape variety.

As concluded by Wilhelm Lerner in that pertaining to this point "a strategy for the German wine market must reflect the differences between these two types of consumers and then decide on which of the two groups efforts are to be focused".

In the last decade Germany has been one of the main destinations for Spanish wine exports. According to data compiled by the Spanish Wine Market Observatory, Spain exported 234 million liters of wine to Germany, for a value of 275 million Euros within the period standing between January and November of 2010. Despite these good results, Spanish wines encounter an obstacle in Germany, represented by the strength of the image of the regional wines, French wines and Italian wines, which are in turn its main competitors.

"Spanish wines are perceived by the German consumer as New World wines from Europe; wines that are good quality for money", Lerner affirms. "However, the strength of the image of its competitors within the German wine market casts a shadow on Spanish wines". Hence, independently of our country's classic wine regions, such as Rioja or more recently, Rueda, the diversity of the Spanish offer is not really very well known within this market. The German consumer is not properly educated in as far as Spanish wines are concerned", Wilhelm Lerner pronounces.

In the opinion of the German consultant, the main key involved in order to penetrate and grow in the German market is "a strategy that involves continuous long term effort and that clearly delimits 'Where' and 'How' this objective is to be achieved". In this sense and despite the fact that Wilhelm Lerner considers that Spanish wines start off in a favorable position thanks to their quality and price in the German market, the wineries must make an additional effort in order to enhance their brand image. "Spanish wineries must change the rules of the game. With rivals that are this strong and this well established, it will be impossible to win with the typical communication, sales and marketing strategy".

Reinventing traditional strategies and designing a long-term strategy that is committed to growing on the German market are the main points that Wilhelm Lerner will be covering in his conference at FENAVIN on the upcoming May 11th.