Master's Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics -
Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media,
grade: 1,3, Berlin School of Economics and Law, language: English,
abstract: China is turning into one of the world's largest, most
lucrative food and beverage markets. With a growing middle class, the
demand for premium lifestyle products is constantly increasing. A new
generation of consumers, typically located in urban areas, is emerging,
with more disposable income and a greater awareness and willingness to
pay for high quality, often imported products - including wine. Wine has
become "fashionable" as a symbol of social status and this trend is
likely to continue. Further, the health benefits associated with red
wine in particular, have convinced some consumers to switch from
traditional Chinese alcoholic beverages to grape wine. Although China
traditionally is a rice-wine-consuming country and unlike in many
Western countries, grape wine is considered a luxury product, the grape
wine market1 has grown rapidly since its emergence in the mid 1990s,
with still wine being the most lucrative. According to a recent survey,
in 2009 the Chinese wine market generated total revenues of US$ 7,2
billion which constitutes a compound annual growth rate of 5,3% for the
period from 2005 to 20092. As wine consumption in China is closely
related to income, there is no end in sight to this positive trend.
