Minimum Price Could Bet Set on Wines

The wine industry is a fast paced and competitive industry with a number of companies competing for a customer's hard earned pound. At the moment, customers enter their local supermarket or convenience store and can browse the selection of wines from various companies.

Some of the wines available are produced by well-known brands whilst many other wines on the shelves are produced by wine companies that produce the wine for the large brands to sell on. However, a customer is not going to know the difference so their buying decision is going to be based on three things; price, label appearance and tasting notes.

One of these decision factors could soon be taken out the equation as the government is looking to try and reduce the amount of binge drinking by imposing a minimum price for all wines. At the moment, most shops have a sales section which is where many customers buy their wines. Many customers are not sure about the type of wine they want after they have decided that they want a red, white or rose (although some are not even sure of that).

It is estimated that alcohol abuse costs the UK economy around £2.7bn a year so it is no wonder that Prime Minister David Cameron has looked to impose a minimum price for all alcohol. The proposed pricing structure is likely to be around 50 pence per unit so many wine companies are going to have to rethink their strategies. How this changes the way customers buy wine and other alcohol is unclear but there is sure to be a change in heart by many.

What this means for the various wine producers is that they are going to have to think about how to make their wines appealing to customers. The tried and tested method is to improve the look of the label but if everyone does that then we are back to square one! So with this in mind, it is important that these wine companies start now in order to get the competitive edge.

This may mean that customers will start to be more picky when it comes to choosing a wine and they may do some research before buying which may be good news for producers of high quality wine and bad news for those who look to entice customers by making their wine cheap. It is not for definite that this minimum price will be implemented but it looks like it will happen so companies need to ready themselves for this change.