How Does Your Brand's Pricing Align with the Competition?

Analyzing the competition is an essential aspect of business planning. Examining the competitive market’s strengths and weaknesses, for example, can lead to opportunities for your business; one company’s weakness is another’s opportunity.

It is also important to regularly check competitor pricing.  This is easily done by surveying accounts to determine what deals are being offered and where your brand fits within the price spectrum.

In late May, we challenged the students enrolled in Dixie’s Introduction to Wine Marketing at Umpqua Community College’s Southern Oregon Wine Institute to examine wine prices at a local off-premise accounts.  We asked each of the 12 students to gather information on five Pinot Noir brands from Oregon and California priced from $10 to $20.[1]  

The data we requested included the brand, vintage, original price and discounted price if one was available.  Then we pulled together a summary of the findings, which are detailed in the table below:

Metrics	OR	CA	Overall
Vintage Range	2005-2010	2005-2010	2005-2010
Price Range	$10.99 - $21.49	$8.88 - $29.99	$8.88 - $29.99
Avg Price	$18.01	$15.77	$16.83
Avg Deal Price	$14.87	$11.74	$13.00
Avg Discount	22%	26%	24%
Number of Producers	27	30	57
Number Discounting Producers	17	25	42

One of the more interesting things we found was how many producers were discounting -- 42 out of 57 surveyed.  On average, these discounts are 24% of suggested retail price or about $13.  We were also interested to find the range of vintages being offered.

 For an individual Pinot Noir producer looking to compete in the off-premise, being aware of the state of pricing and discounting is a must.

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[1] With an approximate even male-female ratio, we asked female students to examine California brands while males collected information on Oregon producers.