Time to Talk About Private Label Wine
Canadian and Australian wine professionals are exercised about the number of wines big retailers currently sell, or may be about to offer, under their own labels.
If you had listened to Chinese visitors at any international trade fair a few years ago, you’d have been sure to hear them ask, almost routinely, ‘Can we have exclusivity? Or OEM?’
When they said OEM*, what they really meant was ‘private label’ - the wine they were tasting, but under their name. Chinese shoppers are notorious for scanning barcodes and checking prices online before making a purchase, so preventing such comparisons can be a key consideration.
As, of course, is the ability for retailers to create their own brands. This explains why, way back in 2017, I was publicly told by an official in Beijing that “Chinese consumers
