It’s Rosé All the Way: Here’s How to Profit from This Trend

by | Jul 30, 2019 | Wine & Spirits

Reading Time: 4 minutes

As hot as summer is, rosé is even hotter as the summer drink of choice.

Rosé saw a 48% growth in the last year to $466 million in sales, according to Nielsen.

Customers are consuming rosé any way they can: rosé by the glass, sparkling rosé, frozen rosé, rosé wine gummy bears and lollipops, and rosé beauty products all captured the fancy of consumers of both genders eager to enjoy the playful side of this classic drink.

While peak rosé was definitely the summer of 2017, the wine is still winning summer. Let’s take a look and examine how wine suppliers can best capitalize on this pink trend.

Rosé is in season

While consumers do enjoy rosé all year, there is a peak season for the drink. U.S. rosé sales are the highest during the summer months and peak around the July 4th holiday.

Many brands choose to play-up rosé as the drink of summer and target their marketing that way.

The online-only wine club, Winc, sells its rosé as “Summer Water.”  Here’s how the website describes it: “Summer Water is more than the rosé of the season – it’s a state of mind, and every drop is full of pink-tinted possibility.”

The hot-spot Hamptons family-owned vineyard Wolffer Estate releases “Summer in a Bottle” each year. The rosé helped bring the flailing-family winery out of relative obscurity and catapulted it to the top of the market.

“When you talk about the total alcohol category across beer, wine, and spirits, there are so many segments that are near-flat and pretty slow and sluggish, and rosé is on that opposite extreme where it’s still growing double digits within the world of any consumer goods,” Danelle Kosmal, vice president of Beverage Alcohol Practice at Nielsen told Refinery29. “If we look at the latest 52 weeks — so the last year, ending June 15, 2019 — rosé is still up 27%.”

Rosé in the middle

On the spectrum of white, rosé and reds, rosé serves as a great middle ground.

Rosé lovers are expanding their purchases to include more white wine than they did a year ago. Chardonnay and white zinfandel sales have increased, which shows that rosé is a strong middle ground for drinkers who love a dry or sweet wine.

Rosé every which way

Consumers are not only drinking rosé during summer barbeques. Brands are also targeting rosé drinkers with other rosé-themed products to increase sales.

The premier sweets company Sugarfina released a “Rosé All Day” chocolate bar, made of pink chocolate and rosé gummy bears infused with rosé from Provence.

Rosé mansion popped up in New York City last summer and is continuing to expand. It’s a fun-house filled with rosé-themed rooms that allows tourists and rosé drinkers to taste rosé from around the world and swing on chandeliers from the ceiling or jump in a giant ball pit — all while allowing guests to make excellent Instagram content to label as #RoséAllDay.

If you don’t want to just consume rosé, you can also wear your love for the pink-colored drink by donning sweatshirts or totes.

How brands can capitalize on consumers’ love for rosé

If you have a rosé in your portfolio, consider investing a large portion of your marketing spend to the pre-summer and summer months. Consumers have rosé on the brain during the hot months and this will help escalate your sales.

Brands like Wolffer’s and Winc also invest in their rosé bottles and labels to help lure customers in. Bottles with bright colors and fun labels are seen up to 77% more than more muted labels.

If your rosé already has a cult-like following, research adding some products to help give your brand life outside of the glass. Consumers are willing to sport anything from tote bags, t-shirts, and tank tops to show off their love of rosé.

Wine and Spirits

Meredith Galante

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