Dunnes has a Bordeaux sale on at the moment and it follows the fine tradition of supermarket wine sales by being completely bogus. This is how it works:
1. Import/buy a wine specifically for the sale.
2. Apply the normal margin and VAT to work out the retail price.
3. Add on the percentage that the consumer will "save".
4. Mark it back down to the "sale" price and advertise accordingly.
Thus, a wine that should normally sell for €6.99 will be advertised as "Was €13.99, Now €6.99 - SAVE 50%!!!
How people fall for this always amazes me.
Let me give you some examples from the Dunnes "sale".
Haut Medoc de Giscours 2002 - was €26.99, now €18.08. We have imported this wine for many years and the 2004 vintage currently sells in the shop at €19.99. We tasted the 2002 (offered to us at a lower price) and thought it wasn't up to scratch, so we moved straight from the 2001 to the 2004. There is no way this wine should ever be €26.99 so why advertise it as such?
Chateau Batailley 2002, Pauillac - was €49.99, now €29.99 save 40%! Again, the 2001 is available at a regular price of €39.99 - the watery 2002 should be a bit cheaper, so where is the bargain?
Chateau Maucaillou 2005, Moulis - was €39.99 now €29.99 - decent wine, decent vintage, but it is never €39.99! Again, no value to be had.
I could go on, but I think the point is made. I have complained to the Director of Consumer Affairs about this previously but to no avail. Legally, a product is supposed to be on sale for 30 days previous to the sale at the full price, before it can be used as a "Was...Now..." sale line. Did anybody see Haut Medoc de Giscours in Dunnes at €26.99? I would love to hear from you if you did.
Dunnes are the self-proclaimed biggest sellers of wine in the Irish market - is this the best they can come up with?! Watch out for more market share slippage to the deutschers!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I get the feeling the Bordelais are pretty desperate to sell their wine, judging by the number and intensity of sales proposals I get from that part of France. Maybe Dunnes bought unwisely, and now a little of that desperation has begun to leak out at this end. I certainly thought it odd to get a whole brochure of Bordeaux through the door.
There are lots of producers at the bottom end keen to sell, quality can be variable. But why not just bring the wines in and sell at keen prices? It's lying about the "was" price taht bugs me!
Post a Comment