Australia’s biggest wine brand, Jacob's Creek, is proving a hit in emerging markets such as India, China and Russia. Pernod Ricard, the owner of this ubiquitous brand, whose Premium Wine Brands unit also owns Australian brand Wyndham Estate, Campo Viejo of Spain and New Zealand's Brancott Estate and Stoneleigh, said emerging markets were proving a success. ''Our performance in emerging markets has seen us grow our footprint and solidify our brands, achieving more than 30 per cent net sales growth,'' Jean Christophe Couture, chairman and chief executive of Premium Wine Brands reportedly said.
''This has been driven by markets such as India, Thailand, Poland and Russia, demonstrating that we are capitalising on the emerging opportunity for branded bottled wines and leveraging the strength of Pernod Ricard's route to market to win in these territories.''
It had reportedly also benefited in 2011-12 from a renewed focus on shifting from low-priced wines to a more premium offering that helped fatten profits at only a small cost to volumes.
However, Pernod Ricard is focussing a lot on the Chinese market. The company said on Monday that advertising and promotional activity was expanded from 5 to 24 Chinese cities last year, driving sales growth in China.
Jacobs Creek is the biggest selling brand in India too. Although the company is slightly cagey about releasing its actual sales figures, delWine had ranked it number 2 with total sales of 28,000 cases in 2011-12 in its Top Ten Importers survey 2012. This number might require a slight upgradation to perhaps 30,000, based on the company’s announcement in Australia.
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In India, where its Scotch whisky brand Chivas Regal is quite popular with the whisky drinkers, it is rumoured to use the famous brand as a leverage to promote Jacob’s Creek which is the most available brand in retail and banquets. Even at the duty free shops it is the only visible wine brand besides the imported products of Brindco. Jacob’s Creek labels sell for $10 a bottle and are often the choice of novices who go for the price and the brand recall.
Pernod Ricard also produces ‘Nine Hills’ wines in India. The label that has been finding increasing acceptance after the initial hiccups, sells around 25,000 cases in India; the exact figures are not released by the company which has been steadily improving its quality and presence in the market.
According to a report in Sunday Morning Herald, Jacob's Creek recorded net sales growth in India (up 34 per cent), Thailand (up 32 per cent), Russia (up 16 per cent) and Poland (up 20 per cent). |