Paris (AFP)
The ordinance on the supervision of promotions, one of the flagship measures of the Food Law, has reduced by almost 10% the turnover of the fairs with the autumn wines, penalizing in particular the bordeaux and the champagnes, according to a study published Tuesday.
"While consumer goods are stable overall," the wines show a decline of 9.4% in turnover in the eight weeks from September 2 to October 27, compared to the same period of 2018, Nielsen, whose studies refer to this sector, said in a statement.
The total sales of the wine department thus fall below the 1 billion mark on September-October in hypers, supermarkets, drives and convenience stores, he says.
According to Nielsen, this drop in sales follows the adoption of the order for volume and value promotions in December 2018 and its implementation since the beginning of the year.
"Traditional sales peak, the fairs have proved less interesting for customers of the department this year, and the deficit of promotional offers has significantly penalized the wines as a whole," says Nielsen.
Thus, since January 1, promotions on food products can not exceed 34% of the sale price to the consumer. And, since March 1, the total volume of promotions is limited to 25% of the sales or the projected volume of purchase between the supplier and the distributor fixed by contracts.
"Champagnes are the most + impacted + with -34% of turnover, of which 90% come from a decline in promotion," adds Nielsen.
In terms of still wines, the decline in sales is less (-5.4%) and can be explained primarily by red wines, which account for 94% of losses, particularly penalized by Bordeaux. Only the whites are doing well (+ 1.1%).
The 2018 edition of the Wine Fairs had already been disappointing, with sales down 2.1% in value and 4.4% in volume, despite an increase in the number of references in the catalogs, according to Nielsen.
The autumn wine fairs account for about a quarter of the annual sales of the wine department in supermarkets.
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