US wine consumers are continuing to trade down to wine-by-the-glass in the on-trade, but paying more for servings, latest figures show.
Wine-by-the glass sales accounted for 61% of the category's US on-trade sales in this year's first quarter, Guestmetrics reported today (15 May). In 2011, wine-by-the-glass accounted for 56% of wine sales and increased to 59% in 2012.
Guestmetrics attributed the shift to the effect of the wider economic situation on consumers.
However, the average price paid for wine-by-the-glass rose 3% in the first three months of the year.
Consumers are also trading up when buying wine-by-the-bottle, with the average price paid up nearly 9% in Q1, Guestmetrics said.
The average price for wine-by-the-bottle was $46, while the average price for wine-by-the glass was slightly under $10 during the first quarter.
The ultra-premium segment saw share gains both in by-the-glass and by-the-bottle. In by-the-glass, ultra premium’s share of sales rose 13% in Q1. In by-the-bottle, the sub-category's share of sales jumped 21% in the quarter.
Guestmetrics define ultra-premium as wine by-the-glass costing $14 or more, while bottle ultra premium is classisfied as $80 or higher.
But the company added: "Despite the premiumisation taking place in the category, this was more than offset by the trade-down from bottle to glass, resulting in the slight moderation in the overall price/mix in the category.”
