Story: Price makes for competence? | Tobias Column
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Cheaper is better. Or is it?
There seems to be an ineradicable and absurd rule of thumb in the online wine trade: Whoever has the lowest price must necessarily be the best. Competence is no longer defined by experience, product range quality or advice, but simply by a few cents less. Château XY 2019 - only €42.90 instead of €73.00 - for you today! And the best thing about it? The same thing will be available again next week. Maybe even cheaper. Welcome to the wine internet, where dumping is the new sommelier.
The hard discount strategy: discounts until you collapse
What began as a sophisticated sales strategy has long since degenerated into a caricature. The permanent discount battle in the online trade is more reminiscent of a Black Friday end-time movie than the serious sale of high-quality wines. Year after year, the prices are getting lower, the margins narrower, the marketing emails more penetrating. The problem is that this strategy is no longer working. Customers are jaded, producers are increasingly exasperated - and the online stores themselves? They are sliding into a price war that is gradually pulling the rug out from under their feet.
The crazy business with icon wines
It becomes particularly bizarre when so-called “icon wines” - bottles with a global reputation, microscopic availability and cult status - are suddenly being sold at prices that even make the winemaker himself look twice. Sassicaia, Solaia, Monfortino, Masseto - everything has to go! Preferably with free shipping and a set of bottle openers to boot. You can't help but wonder: who is this offer aimed at? The target group for such wines is tiny - and not exactly the one that needs to be persuaded to buy with a 40% discount. It's like selling truffles in a discount store: wrongly targeted and completely absurd.
Brand care à la price slingshot
What is completely lost in all of this is the decades of work that many wineries have put into building their brand. Image, reputation, price stability - everything is destroyed in a matter of seconds if the retailer wants to be the cheapest at any price (pun not intended - or is it?). This form of “competence through price” not only undermines customer confidence, but also the credibility of entire regions and producers. From fine wine to a passed-through stoop - this is the real journey that many top wines now have to take.
Conclusion: expertise is not a special offer
In a market that is increasingly focusing on volume, speed and price wars, true expertise is increasingly being lost. Cheap does not mean clever - and certainly not competent. When even grand crus become special offers, you should ask yourself whether you are still drinking wine - or whether you are just relying on price tomfoolery. A wine merchant who defines his value solely in terms of discounts is not a professional - but a sell-out with a logo. And the difference between competence and calculation then becomes painfully clear - at the latest when the last producer pulls the emergency brake. - Tobias Gerhard Strunz [TS04/25]
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