Wine was early in Chinese culture, but never quite caught on as part of
the meal. With a big emphasis on balance, Chinese cuisine dictates food
combination with a strong emphasis on health. In fact, food is
considered a form of traditional Chinese medicine. Western wine should
fit into the health idea, but it never really has integrated. In this
show, Michael Turton gives some insight as to why this is the case, how
the wine market has developed, and what marketers need to do to be
successful in this market. Michael recently presented his preliminary
findings at a marketing conference in Washington, DC.
The whole concept of wine drinking is different here from what many
Westerners experience in their home countries. We often look for the
wine menu and consider what wine will compliment the food we are
eating: will that bottle of poulette fumé
go nicely with the salmon? In Taiwan the customer first checks if
it is red (for the health properties) and then generally looks for the
preferred country - France. The consumption experience focuses on
the health properties and communicating to others that you have
the right product (conspicuous consumption). In other words a wine from France. Michael's interviews have revealed the difficulties in this bifurcated market where one one end all that matters is a cheap price (to get red wine), and the other end where price is all that matters is high price. Check out TATUNG's (a conglomerate that produces everything from computers to rice cookers) Website on wine, where health is emphasized and education is a big component.
Taiwan lifted alcoholoic beverage and tobacco imports in 1987, which slowly opened to a boom time in the mid 1990s (view report here).Local specialty wines tend to be sweet, like Clyde's favorite--Bee wine, made with poisonious bees.
Vid. 1) Wine promotion at Carrefour that emphasizes a special price--Clyde buys a bottle.
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Vid. 2) Costco has the largest selection and range of imported wine in Taiwan.
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Vid. 3) Samples of wine at Costco along with some education by reps that know more than what we experienced at Carrefour.
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That's very interesting, thanks. Nice having Michael join the discussion.
One suggestion - putting a short synopsis of what subjects are discussed and the minute it's discussed would allow those not having the time to listen to the whole thing be able to jump forward abit.
I enjoy the podcast, but the hour+ each proves a real challenge.
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