Market Audits

Abstract

Filling the needs of customers in order to make a profit is the crux of marketing. It involves intensive analysis to determine the product attributes that consumers value and to guide product and marketing modifications to provide these attributes. It leads wineries to become as knowledgeable about their customers as they are about their own wine. This chapter presents an approach to analyzing channel members and final consumers. Channel members include distributors, restaurants, retailers, supermarkets, mail-order companies, and any other entities getting the winery’s product into the hands of final consumers. Consumers can be divided into many different segments, including special-occasion buyers, regular users, those who buy wine to impress others, and those who drink wine occasionally but really prefer beer. Wineries can reach these different segments by modifying the product, the promotional programs, and the channels of distribution.