Magazine: They are shaping the market and consumer taste

Retail chains not only play an important role in how the Hungarian wine sector develops and what kind of wines Hungarians like to drink, but some of them also have excellent results in exporting Hungarian wines. Judit Tőzsér, PR manager of Lidl Hungary told our magazine that the discount store chain sold more than 11 million bottles of wine in 2015, and 4 million bottles from this were exported. The discount supermarket chain shapes its wine selection relying on the constant monitoring of consumption habits and trends. In the last few years Hungary’s wine culture developed well and this trend resulted in growing demand for Hungarian wines and high-quality products.

Lidl Hungary’s wine purchaser, Ádám Harcz was named the best wine purchaser of 2015 at the VinCE Awards last year. At the website lidlborok.hu Antal Kovács, one of Hungary’s most famous wine experts and all-time sommelier champion evaluates the Hungarian wines sold by Lidl Hungary. The discount store chain organises the Lidl Wine Expo Hungary programme every year, the objective of which is to popularise Hungarian wineries and wines in foreign markets too. Lidl Hungary organises 5 Hungarian wine weeks in their stores this year.

Márk Maczelka, SPAR Hungary’s head of communications informed us that they sold nearly 10 million bottles of wine in 2015 and 99 percent of these were Hungarian. The retail chain tries to purchase the majority of products directly from the winemakers. SPAR Hungary has its own wine selection (shoppers find the SPAR Selection label on these bottles): these quality wines represent the typical varieties of Hungary’s wine regions. This exclusive selection of wines has been compiled by famous winemakers. SPAR Hungary is the main sponsor of the Budapest Wine Festival and they will publish their next Wine Catalogue in September.

Eszter Varga, media relations manager of Tesco Hungary revealed that at annual level Tesco sells almost 70 million bottles of wine in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. From this about 24 million bottles are sold in Hungary and 90-95 percent of them are Hungarian. When creating their wine selection, Tesco Hungary pays special attention to consumer taste, the image of products and their price. Tesco Hungary is open to new products and they work in close cooperation with wineries.

The retail chain’s experience is that promotions are the best way to motivate customers for buying wine. There is one big promotion campaign in the spring and another in the autumn, and these are supported by publishing a wine catalogue for each. Tesco Hungary is one of the main sponsors of the National Wine Fair, which is organised by the National Council of Wine Communities (HNT). Since November 2015 Tesco Hungary exported almost 1 million bottles of wine to the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.