Denis Pantini
Verallia, manufacturer of glass containers for food industry, and Nomisma Wine Monitor presented at Pollenzo the study ‘The role of packaging in the choices concerning wine consumption: a comparison between US and Italian Millennials’. The research, realised by Wine Monitor, has set itself the objective of evaluating behaviour and consumption styles concerning wine by Millennials in the two most important markets for wine enterprises in Italy: today 5 Italian wine bottles out of 10 are still consumed in the domestic market, while of the remaining five that are exported, one directly arrives in the United States.
The USA represents the leading export market for our products. In 2016 this market imported a total of over 5 billion Euros as for wine, of which 32.4% of Italian origin, making our Country the leader in this sector. The growth in value of total wine imports in the USA was 52% in the last decade (3.3% in the last year, 2016 vs. 2015).
The universe of reference for this study were the Millennials (people aged 21-35). This is the generation on which all producers are focusing, and which in the future will replace the wine consumers who for years have supported these consumptions in more traditional way. In the USA, Millennials already represent the generation that consumes more wine than any other one as for quantity: 42% of all consumptions.
Young US adults choose wine for brand reputation (32%) and much less for the type of wine (21%). In choosing wine, also purely aesthetic and design factors, such as packaging and labels, are taken into account.
No wonder that 76% of US Millennials believe that personalized bottles contain wines of superior quality, or that in front of a bottle of unknown wine, but with very innovative or particular design, 92% of US consumers between 26 and 31 years would be interested in purchasing it.
Denis Pantini, responsible person for Wine Monitor of Nomisma, says: ‘Millennials are the generation on which all producers are focusing’, ‘But this generation has a distinctly different approach to purchase of wine compared to the one that traditionally has supported these consumptions (the so-called baby boomers): greater attention to innovation, sustainability, creativity, all factors often related to packaging. The objective of this research was precisely to provide Italian manufacturers with one more tool to grasp the opportunities in the two main markets of our wine: Italy and the United States’.
