Boxed wine sales take off in the US as consumers switch to premium over value products, says Nielsen

Sales of boxed wine are on up in the US as consumers start to appreciate the higher standard of wine now being shipped and packaged in what was previously regarded as a lower quality wine option.
Latest figures from Nielsen show that sales of three litre boxed wine grew by 13.7% and 12.3% in value and volume over the last year. Although they still only hold 3% overall market share. Sales of Tetra Pak wine are even more impressive as they grew by 21.9% and 21.8% by value and volume, but only have a 1% share.
Nielsen’s senior vice president, Danny Brager told the recent 2016 Wine Market Council that the figures were particularly encouraging as they showed a change in attitude amongst wine drinkers towards boxed wine. Although 750-ml glass bottles still hold 70% market share. The growth is also being driven by sales of premium rather than value boxed wine.
Brager said:"In the case of 3-litre boxes the category has increased sales by introducing new buyers, including premium wine buyers, accounting for 44% of the growth." He said men were now more likely to consider boxed wine as women still regard them as being of lower quality.
He said men were now more likely to consider boxed wine as women still regard them as being of lower quality, although perceptions are changing fast.
One of the leading players in premium-boxed wine is Black Box Wines which promotes both appellation-specific and vintage-dated wines. It claims boxed wine offers a 40% saving for the same quality wine thanks to reduced packaging, production and transportation costs.
Jim Surdyk, chief executive of a 12,000-square-foot liquor store in Minneapolis, told Shanken News Daily that sales of wine are down 5% but "boxed wines have exploded," he said.
Jean-Charles Boisset of California's Boisset Family Estates, said it had introduced a "Barrel to Barrel" programme just to promote boxed and Tetra Pak products. "These products were created to minimize the carbon footprint in the wine world and to certainly bring value, convenience and ecology to the consumer," he said.
Other leading US brands for boxed wine include FishEye, Banrock Station and BotaBox from California, French Rabbit and La Petite Frog from France; and Maipe from Chile.