Export opportunities for developing wine brands

King Zwelethini poses with Bayede!

The Developing Wine Brands Programme, a component of its Supplier Development Fund (SDF), in partnership with Makro and Cool Wines, aims to fast-track the development of emerging wine producers, and will be looking for superior quality wines from the programme to recommend to Walmart.

The programme was launched in March 2012 and to date, a total of 16800 bottles of wine have been sold locally under the 19 participating brands. All 19 brands are now available in Makro stores countrywide and select Game stores.

Wines currently participating in the programme:

• Bayede! Wines
  
• Cape Dreams
  
• Libby's Pride
  
• Lindhorst Wines
  
• The Food & Wine Factory
  
• Remogo Wines
  
• Sesfikile
  
• S'Koko
  
• Thandi Wines
  
• Thembi & Co
  
• House of Mandela
  
• Vins D'Orrance
  
• Women in Wine
  
• Seven Sisters
  
• Bosman-De Bos
  
• Solms Delta
  
• Howard Booysen
  
• Thokozani
  
• Stellenrust

Following the launch of Seven Sisters wines in 54 Walmart stores in the US at the end of August 2012, Walmart increased its procurement and Seven Sisters is now on the shelves of 300 stores. King Goodwill Zwelithini's royal brand Bayede! Wines also secured a contract with Walmart and recently shipped about 35000 bottles of wine to China.

Supporting route to market

At first, the participants benefitted from consulting advice on elements such as competitor and customer analysis, packaging, pricing and brand development. But soon it became clear that one of the biggest challenges lay in logistics. Massmart now provides logistical support, with the help of Cool Wines, to get the wine from the farm to their stores.

"We aim to achieve this by providing a route to market for our participating brands, mainly through Makro and other liquor chains in Massmart; we also assist with distribution, in-store marketing, promotional support and training," Makro's national wine buyer Carolyn Barton says.

In addition, Makro provides free advertising exposure and in-store promotional activity (excluding provision of the wine). Participants attend frequent meetings with Makro to evaluate sales and brand development progress with the objective of developing joint solutions where appropriate.

To further support the participating brands' public exposure, this month, the supplier development programme funded travel, accommodation, and exhibition stands and sample stock for tastings at the 9th annual Soweto Wine Festival, which took place from 5-7 September. The festival attracts 8500 wine buyers, agents and enthusiasts each year, a fitting platform for the brands to build awareness.

Seven Sisters' success

Jason Fremstad, the senior buyer for Wine and Spirits at Walmart, was sent to review wines from South Africa for incorporation into their product line-up. Initially nine wine brands were brought to the table because they met the strategic criteria of the sourcing team.

According to Fremstad, the Seven Sisters wines had several factors in their favour: First, the style of their wines was in line with what Walmart customers are looking for - easy and soft to drink, regardless of the varietal. Second, the label has been designed to grab the customer's attention while delivering a deeper story once the customer has picked it up off the shelf to read it. Finally, he noted how the prices fitted into a range which appealed to Walmart customers.