Russian Wine Industry and Millennials' Wine Consumption Characteristics
To describe the modern Russian wine business ecosystem in detail, to compile a portrait of Russian Millennials as a generation of wine consumers. To verify the wine consuming patterns of Generation Y as well as to analyze Russian wine production.
| Рубрика | Менеджмент и трудовые отношения |
| Вид | дипломная работа |
| Язык | английский |
| Дата добавления | 18.09.2020 |
| Размер файла | 2,7 M |
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Speaking of the factors influencing the wine habits of Millennials, it was identified that the respondents feel the effect of either WOM (Word of Mouth) and/or E-WOM (electronic Word of Mouth) when they choose wine. 6 respondents mentioned that they strive to listen to the advice of the family member or a friend when making their wine purchase, while, for example, M1 (interview 2020), M2 (interview 2020) and M10 (interview 2020) also mentioned that they follow some wine blogs on social media, use the particular wine application and check the internet reviews in order to choose the wine of a specific type.
During this research, it was necessary to analyze why exactly Millennials value wine as a beverage, because the reasons for that may be further used for the wine brands to capitalize on. 9 out of 12 Millennials identified wine consumption primarily with the aesthetic pleasure. M3 (interview 2020) said: “When I drink wine, I feel like I belong to the elite, I am not just drinking alcohol thoughtlessly, but I feel like I am a part of something important.” M9 (interview 2020), M11 (interview 2020), and M12 (interview 2020) expressed the idea that wine is the only alcoholic beverage that people use not to get drunk or forget about their problems, but to feel like they are something special. What is more, 6 respondents highlighted that wine looks good when posting on social media, and it is an essential factor for them to choose wine over other beverages. M3 (interview 2020) stressed the idea: “If the bottle looks good overall, the colors are pleasant, and the fonts and front picture are attractive, I would be happy to post my wine on the media. Moreover, I do not mind highlighting the brand of the wine or even tagging it on the post if I liked the beverage much”. M5 (interview 2020) even noted that what wine looks like is sometimes more important than what it tastes like, it is especially valid for the cases when there is a need to proceed with the content feed in the social media. It is noteworthy that the same number of respondents (5 Millennials) highlighted the country of origin of wine and the bottle appearance as the main influencing factors when making their purchase decision. This information contributes to the fact that the wine producers must stress the importance of the appearance of wine bottles because it directly influences how the consumers perceive the brand.
Many factors may affect the perception of the wine bottle and its further purchasing. Millennials participating in the research were asked to talk about the factors that have the most substantial influence on their wine purchase intention. 9 respondents noted that label design plays the most critical role for them. M3 (interview 2020) stressed that it is always important when the bottle looks like; however, “it should not be too pretty.” M10 added to the idea by saying: “The label design is always the most important factor when I choose wine, but I never want it to be too beautiful. Otherwise, I feel like something has to be wrong with the wine itself; they just want to hide it”. M4 (interview 2020) continues the thought: “If the bottle is too attractive, I start to think: they are trying too hard, I do not like it.” Along with the design itself, 7 respondents mentioned the importance of the fonts used on the label. What is more, 6 participants noted the wine plug type as well as the bottle appearance in general as significant factors. Also, 6 Millennials stressed that they loved interactive parts being involved in the wine bottle design: “I like it how some wine producers put QR codes on the back of the bottle, it is interesting, and it involves you into the process of following the brand” (M5, interview 2020). M8 (interview 2020) noted that they started following two wine brands on social media just because of being once involved in some kind of instant digital activity.
When it comes to any commercial activity, the price plays the first role. Thus, in the interviews, Millennials were also asked to identify the price range in which they usually buy wine. 8 respondents defined this price in the frames of 350-850 rubles. M4 (interview 2020) claimed: “I am scared to take wine cheaper than 400 rubles, but I would definitely not buy the wine more expensive than 850 rubles, I am not such a fan of this beverage”. It is noteworthy that only one respondent claimed to be buying wine cheaper than 350 rubles per bottle, and only 2 Millennials said they purchase wine more expensive than 1350 rubles per bottle.
Last but not least, Millennials appeared to be very accepting in terms of professional and semi-professional help. M6 (interview 2020) stated: “I find sommeliers and cavists very helpful when I choose wine. It is worth saying that many of my wine habits were acquired with the help of the professional community”. Also, M12 (interview 2020) said that it was always very important to get professional help in specialty wine stores as well. M8 (interview 2020) added to that by noting that cavists in wine stores tend to be very knowledgeable and thoroughly seeking for the proper wine the customer came to buy. However, M3 (interview 2020), for example, said that cavists and sommeliers could be a great help. Still, sometimes the client might feel the pressure or understand that the professionals only want to sell the wine of the highest price. All in all, it was seen that the respondents were not apprehensive of professional help, and most of them stated that they would be glad to get expert advice to make a better wine purchase in the supermarket, specialty store, or the wine bar.
This part of the research regarded Millennials as a unique wine consuming cohort. It did not focus on the attitude of Russian Millennials towards Russian wine. Still, it was dedicated to the description of the patterns of wine consumption of Generation Y in Russia in general as well as to the analysis of the main characteristics of Russian Millennial as a wine consumer. Thus, the research question 2 was answered in this part.
2.4.3 How are Millennials as wine consumers perceived by wine industry ecosystem stakeholders?
One of the main aims of this research was to prove the use of Stakeholder Theory in analyzing the wine industry. As was stated before (e.g., Tullberg, 2013), any business ecosystem can rely on the fact that there are many stakeholders in it, and each of them contributes to the ecosystem differently. As for the wine industry, consumers, professional community, as well as wine producers, are to be identified as the primary stakeholders. During previous parts of this research, it was proved that all three parties mentioned above facilitate the industry development. Also, the main successes and falls of the industry are always directly dependent on the way stakeholders contribute to the process. The very last issue studied in this project is the comparison and contrast of the opinions of three ecosystem stakeholders in the perception of the modern Russian wine consumer. The third research question was formulated as follows: How do different stakeholders of the Russian wine industry perceive Millennials as modern wine consumers? Thus, the part is structured in a way to highlight the differences in opinions and perceptions, to determine similarities, and to develop further practical recommendations on how the wine producers are supposed to act in order to attract their target audience. These aspects are crucial to understand because they sometimes influence the way producers design, promote, and position their products. They need to run those processes correctly and effectively.
It is noteworthy that the majority of the respondents (wine industry representatives) revealed the fact that the primary target audience they either have or willing to pursue is the Millennials, the young generation that is “more open to spending money on unnecessary purchases” (IR4, interview 2020). Besides, the following Table 6 shows what the believed age characteristics of the current wine consumers in the opinion of wine business representatives are.
Table 6: Age of current Russian wine consumers
|
Age range |
Number of Respondents identified the range |
|
|
25+y.o. |
3 |
|
|
30+ y.o. |
3 |
|
|
40+ y.o. |
3 |
Wine producers also mainly believe that their consumers are the people who are well-aware of Russian wine culture, open for professional advice, and those who call themselves authentic wine "connoisseurs." IR1 (interview, 2020) claimed: “We know for sure who our customers are. We know what their tastes are, we know they are young and involved in wine culture. They are aware of the fact that the Russian wine industry now needs their personal support more than ever”. It became evident that wine producers perceive Millennials as the leading wine consumers.
One of the first aspects to compare in different perceptions is the price range within which Millennials tend to buy wine. While Millennials themselves usually choose wine bottles within the price range of 350-850 rubles, wine industry representatives do not seem to be very dedicated to this precise price segment. 4 out of 6 industry representatives claimed to be having wines of a price higher than 1000 rubles. IR2 (interview, 2020) mentioned: “...I would say the starting price would be 1000 rubles, but honestly speaking, most of our wines are of the price 2000-3000 rubles”. Meanwhile, 2 industry representatives claimed to be having wines of a low price segment (up to 250 rubles), while Millennials noticed that they did not trust cheap wines as their quality seemed doubtful. M3 (interview, 2020) explained their price preferences: “my friends and I, we do not usually buy wines that are more expensive than 1000 rubles, but we are also terrified to buy wines cheaper than 300 rubles, ..something may be wrong with them, you never know”. Wine experts, though, seem to be more realistic in the perception of the situation. They claimed that Millennials is the social cohort choosing wine in the price range of 400-600 rubles. WE2 (interview, 2020) supported the idea by saying: “I understand that 600 rubles is already a lot for the population, especially for the people from regions, so I would state it to be the highest price”. Thus, it seems like Russian wine producers despite striving to target their products to the new generation of wine drinkers, partially fail to do so, by not revealing proper price segment and “. leaving the middle price gap to the foreign wines” (WE5, interview 2020).
Brand awareness is an essential factor in both launching new products on the market and proper market positioning of the existing ones since it “encourages repeat purchases and leads to an increase in market share and incremental sales” (Rhodes, 2017). What is more, it is the business tool marketers tend to use when promoting the product on social media. Thus, it can be said that the tool is vital in modern marketing. In the case of the Russian wine industry, wine producers believe to be building more durable and more robust awareness of their brands (IR3, interview 2020; IR4, interview 2020; IR5, interview 2020). IR3 (interview, 2020) noted: “We keep working on. people to know us (the winery), to recognize us on the shelves”. Also, IR1 (interview, 2020) mentioned: “We are one of the biggest wineries in Russia, we know that people all around the country know the name of our company and we will make sure our current and potential clients will never forget it.” On the other hand, 7 out of 12 Millennials asked claimed that they did not know any Russian wine brands: “Recently, my friends and I have been talking about wines, and we realized we did not know any Russian wine brand name.” (WE3, interview 2020). On the contrary, only 2 of the respondents were aware of the Russian wine brands and claimed to be consuming their products quite frequently. However, 3 respondents were not sure in their responses, they could not remember the names of the brands exactly, but in general, they believed to know some. Figure 24 graphically represents everything described above. Wine experts, though, claimed that many Russian wine brands are capable of competing with foreign rivals, but for now, “the awareness is not raised enough for the competition to occur” (WE6, interview 2020).
Figure 24: Russian wine brands' awareness among Millennials
Country of origin seems to be an important factor in the wine choices. Thus, it is crucial to understand who the consumers, mainly purchasing Russian wine precisely, are. When Russian wine industry representatives believe that “Millennials, especially those of 25-30 years old are the main consumers of Russian wine” (IR3, interview 2020), Generation Y itself usually chooses primarily European wines. Hence, for example, 8 and 6 respondents claimed to be mostly consuming French and Italian wines, respectively, while only 3 participants revealed the pattern of drinking Russian wines. M12 (interview 2020): “I am quite sure that none of my friends or peers would ever choose Russian wine over the French one, for example.” Wine experts, however, believe that “...there definitely are Millennials consuming Russian wine, but they are all part of a professional community, meaning they exist. Still, there are not a lot of such people in the country” (WE2, interview 2020).
Future perspectives of the Russian wine industry were also discussed. All the respondents from three different samples were asked about the main challenges for the industry to overcome in the short-term and long-term perspective. Industry representatives mostly focused on increasing lands and production capacity (5 and 4 respondents respectively): “We want to broaden the terroir and establish bigger wine production capacities.” (IR3, interview 2020). IR2 (interview, 2020) and IR3 (interview, 2020) elaborated on the plans of increasing lands and capacities of production by saying that the quality of their wines does not need any improvements since the standards for wine production are already developed in detail and strictly followed annually; however, it would increase the profits and raise the product awareness if they could produce more significant volumes every year. It is noteworthy that 4 industry representatives also highlighted contributing to maintenance of unique value proposition as one of the main future challenges: “Our wines are unlike any other in Russia, and we want to keep this uniqueness going” (IR 5, interview 2020). On the contrary, the majority of Millennials (8 respondents) stressed increasing product visibility as the main future challenge for the industry: “Put the Russian wine bottles on the shelves of the wine bars, on the advertisements, somewhere else... Just make wine drinkers see those wines, and it will be worth it” (M7, interview 2020). Interestingly, only one of the industry representatives asked mentioned quality improving as the future aim for the wine production; however, 7 out of 12 Millennials asked believed that wine industry had to strive for increasing the quality of products: “I want to make sure Russian wines are really of a good quality, when I know that for sure, I will have no problem buying it” (IR10, interview 2020). What is more, none of the wine industry representatives mentioned more collaborations with HoReCa as one of the main future goals. In contrast, half of the Generation Y representatives insisted that more cooperation with bars and restaurants will bring Russian wine producers more popularity and, consequently, higher profits (e.g., M7, interview 2020). M9 (interview 2020) noticed: “I think establishing partnerships with popular wine bars or restaurants would be very beneficial for Russian wine producers.” The opposite situation is observed concerning export. While 4 out of 6 industry representatives claimed to be oriented to have their wines exported, Millennials did not mention this goal at all, believing that “it's more important first to establish consumption in your country, and only then think about export” (M3, interview 2020). However, IR1 (interview 2020), for example, was sure of the proper goal positioning, saying: “It is now already when we export our wines to many European countries such as France or Germany, but we want to increase the export volumes.” Wine experts, though, expressed the idea similar to the one supported by Millennials; they believe that the Russian wine industry has to grow primarily in the territorial frames of its home country and only then focus on exporting (WE2, interview 2020; WE6, interview 2020). Besides, wine experts stressed balancing value for money and concentrating on the adequate positioning as the main future goals for the Russian wine industry: “Promotion and positioning, what could be more important for the industry at this point?” (WE4, interview 2020). WE5 (interview 2020) added: “The main challenge would be to counterbalance value for money of those Russian wines introduced on the market.”
“I want to buy a pretty wine bottle, and this is incredibly important to me, I feel like it increases the pleasure from consumption” (M10, interview 2020). “I certainly feel that wine tastes better when it is packed attractively” (M3, interview 2020). These are the ideas the majority of Millennials expressed when talking about the appearances of wine bottles as the primary visual focus. 9 of them mentioned the design on the label, and 7 of them stressed the fonts. Also, 6 respondents identified digitally interactive parts such as QR codes on the labels attractive for making purchases. On the contrary, speaking about the main patterns of attraction in their wines, wine producers insisted that brand awareness, as well as awareness of brand history, are the patterns that involve Millennials into purchasing wine the most: “I think, we should focus on letting consumers know more about our brand and wine culture in Russia overall.” (M5, interview 2020). It is essential that only 1 respondent mentioned bottle design significance, and only 2 respondents highlighted the importance of including digitalized interactive details into the bottle design. Thus, it can be said that what Millennials mainly like about wine they purchase is usually not what Russian wine producers majorly focus on.
Last but not least, interestingly, Millennials and industry representatives have a slightly different understanding of how to approach this social cohort. While 8 respondents representing Generation Y stressed the importance of involving media into advertising wine, only 2 of the third sample representatives mentioned this idea as an important one in approaching Millennials and getting their commercial attention. Ml (interview 2020) claimed: “My peers and I, I think we would feel more attracted to Russian wine if, for example, some influencers or opinion leaders would start talking about it.” However, provision of the social events connected to wine such as degustations, wine tastings, or wine festivals seemed to be important equally for the half of Millennials asked, and half of the industry representatives introduced. M6 (interview 2020) commented on that by saying: “I believe that wine- related experiences are essential, wine festivals, days of Russian wines, tastings; they can set up many things to attract the young customer who is genuinely very interested in wine.” Similarly, IR1 (interview 2020) said: “Social wine events are ...not supposed to be underestimated, they bring great value to making the modern customer look at the local wine production closer.” Wine industry representatives also agreed on the fact that within the industry, constant development is vital: “We need to put the continuous development as our priority. Then Millennials will come closer to consuming our wines regularly.” (IR5, interview 2020). Wine experts also pointed out the necessity of engaging the customer in the process, which means bringing some more social events connected to local Russian wine: “The wine producers need to make Millennials feel like they are the part of it, like what they think about Russian wines matters. Our young generations fall for that.” (WE4, interview 2020). Moreover, wine experts also agreed on the importance of the idea of involving media in wine communication more. 4 out of 6 wine experts believed that working with various media platforms would let the wine companies attract the attention of the customers: “If you want to attract Millennials, you need to work with media, you need to dedicate your funds to it, you need to pay a nice SMM (social media marketing) manager, because this is what they (Millennials) really like” (WE3, interview 2020). Professional community closer involvement was also referred by 4 out of 6 wine professionals. At the same time, 4 out of 12 Millennials distinguished professional community as playing a substantial role in approaching the Generation Y.
Table 7 brings together all the differences in perception of Millennials as the modern wine consumers from three perspectives in the form of the most revealing quotes.
Table 7: Differences in consumers' perception
|
Wine industry representatives |
Millennials |
Wine experts |
|
|
Price |
|||
|
“...I would say the starting price would be 1000 rubles, but honestly speaking, most of our wines are of the price 2000-3000 rubles” (IR2, interview 2020). |
“.my friends and I, we do not usually buy wines that are more expensive than 1000 rubles, but we are also terrified to buy wines cheaper than 300 rubles” (M3, interview 2020). |
“I understand that 600 rubles is already a lot for the population, especially for the people from regions, so I would state it to be the highest price” (WE2, interview 2020). |
|
|
Awareness |
|||
|
“.we know that people all around the country know the name of our company, and we will make sure our current and potential clients will never forget it” (IR1, interview 2020). |
“Recently, my friends and I have been talking about wines, and we realized we did not know any Russian wine brand name.” (WE3, interview 2020). |
“.the awareness is not raised enough for the competition to occur” (WE6, interview 2020). |
|
|
Russian wines' choice |
|||
|
“Millennials, especially those of 25-30 years old, are the main consumers of Russian wine” (IR3, interview 2020). |
“I am quite sure that none of my friends or peers would ever choose Russian wine over the French one, for example.” (M12, interview 2020). |
“.there definitely are Millennials consuming Russian wine, but they are all part of a professional community, meaning they exist. Still, there are not a lot of such people in the country” (WE2, interview 2020). |
|
|
Future challenges |
|||
|
“We want to broaden the terroir and establish bigger wine production capacities.” (IR3, interview 2020). “Our wines are unlike any other in Russia, and we want to keep this uniqueness going” (IR 5, interview 2020). |
“Put the Russian wine bottles on the shelves of the wine bars, on the advertisements, somewhere else... Just make wine drinkers see those wines, and it will be worth it” (M7, interview 2020). |
“Promotion and positioning, what could be more important for the industry at this point?” (WE4, interview 2020). “The main challenge would be to counterbalance value for money of those Russian wines |
|
|
“It is now already when we export our wines to many European countries such as France or Germany, but we want to increase the export volumes.” (IR1, interview 2020). |
“I want to make sure Russian wines are really of a good quality, when I know that for sure, I will have no problem buying it” (IR10, interview 2020). “I think establishing partnerships with popular wine bars or restaurants would be very beneficial for Russian wine producers.” (M9, interview 2020). |
introduced on the market.” (WE5 interview 2020). |
|
|
Focus |
|||
|
“I think we should focus on letting consumers know more about our brand and wine culture in Russia overall.” (M5, interview 2020). |
“I certainly feel that wine tastes better when it is packed attractively” (M3, interview 2020). “I want to buy a pretty wine bottle, and this is incredibly important to me, I feel like it increases the pleasure from consumption” (M10, interview 2020). |
||
|
How to target Millennials? |
|||
|
“Social wine events are ...not supposed to be underestimated; they bring great value to making the modern customer look at the local wine production closer.” (IR1, interview 2020). “We need to put the continuous development as our priority. Then Millennials will come closer to consuming our wines regularly.” (IR5, interview 2020). |
“My peers and I, I think we would feel more attracted to Russian wine of, for example, some influencers or opinion leaders would start talking about it” (M1, interview 2020). “I believe that wine-related experiences are essential, wine festivals, days of Russian wines, tastings; they can set up many things to attract the young customer who is genuinely very interested in wine.” (M6, interview 2020). |
“The wine producers need to make Millennials feel like they are the part of it, like what they think about Russian wines matter. Our young generations fall for that.” (WE4, interview 2020). “If you want to attract Millennials, you need to work with media, you need to dedicate your funds to it, you need to pay a nice SMM (social media marketing) manager, because this is what they (Millennials) really like” (WE3, interview 2020). |
Even though many drastic differences in perception of Millennials as wine consumers by both sides of the wine production (producers and consumers) were identified, some aspects were seen similarly by those parties. Both Millennials, wine experts, and industry professionals admitted that various prejudices and beliefs towards wine production in Russia exist, and they need to be fought against. 4 out of 6 industry representatives confirmed that those prejudices influence the fact that Millennials often do not choose Russian wine, whereas 8 Millennials also identified mistrust for the industry. Besides, 8 of them noticed that the image of the industry is weak, and the quality of wines put on the market shelves is doubtful to be of a decent quality. Besides, 6 representatives of Generation Y put out the fact that their peers also doubt that industry possesses enough of standardization, which is very needed in wine production. M4 (interview, 2020) mentioned, for example, that they had some bad experience tasting Russian wine, and after those cases, they started doubting its quality.
One more aspect all the parties agree on is the lack of knowledge about Russian wine, which leads to the appearance of prejudices and mistrust discussed before. 7 of Millennials mentioned this factor saying, “many of my friends and I wish we knew more about Russian wine, but we do not, and it is a problem, yes” (M6, interview 2020). Moreover, all the Millennials were asked to approve or disapprove of the statement: “I do not know about Russian wine much. If I knew more, I would be more interested in its purchase”. 10 out of 12 respondents agreed with the statement, and only two of them disagreed. M1 (interview, 2020) and M2 (interview, 2020) also said that they would be happy to be more knowledgeable in terms of Russian wine, but the information about it does not seem very approachable to them. On the other hand, wine experts contributed to the idea: “yes, they do not know much about local wines, but actually it is not their task to get acquainted, producers have to take care of it” (M5, interview 2020). IR5 (interview, 2020) expressed the idea that the knowledge lacking cannot be replenished by the producers solely, but their efforts have to be profoundly supported by the government. 5 industry representatives expressed the worry that there was not enough wine knowledge among Russian Millennials.
Last but not least, all three stakeholders of the wine ecosystem agreed on the fact that in the nearest future wine industry will have to affront many challenges and difficulties among which there are, for instance, overcoming bureaucratic burden (WE2, interview 2020; WE3, interview 2020; WE5? interview 2020) working on proper positioning on the market (e.g., WE1, interview 2020; M12, interview 2020; IR3, interview 2020) and proceeding with the uniqueness of the value proposition (e.g., M2, interview 2020; M6, interview 2020; IR2, interview 2020; IR6, interview 2020).
All in all, this chapter covered the answer for the third research question comparing and contrasting the opinions of wine ecosystem stakeholders on the modern Russian wine consumers. There were identified some differences as well as some similarities. While the differences concerned mainly the price for Russian wine, product awareness, country-of-origin affecting wine choices, Millennials' wine preferences, and future industry perspectives, the similarities focused on the prejudices interfering into the ecosystem as well as the lack of wine knowledge existing among Millennials and the possible ways to overcome the misunderstandings and prejudices occurring.
3. Discussion
Millennials and their characteristics, habits, and preferences have been discussed for years already. It was many times identified that this social cohort has a robust commercial power, and also the habits marketers are more than willing to capitalize on (e.g., Fountain & Charters, 2009). It was also identified that Millennials tend to develop wine habits quite early, and if following those habits accurately, the social cohort can be targeted adequately (De Magistris, 2011). Millennials were proved to be self-conscious wine drinkers, striving to get more wine experiences than the previous generations (Velikova, 2019). This research focused on Millennials as wine consumers precisely in Russia since there was found a gap in the scientific literature studying Millennials' wine choices. The results of the current project seem to be contributing to the field significantly since they identify the main characteristics of the Russian Generation Y representatives consuming wine. Also, this project adds to the patterns of their wine consumption previously studied by some foreign researchers (e.g., Teague, 2015). It is noteworthy that this research was not possible without proper investigation into the Russian wine industry in general. Thus, one of the aims of the project was to compile the portrait of the modern Russian wine industry. These characteristics developed based on the opinions of three parties of the leading wine industry stakeholders contributed to the field development as well by bringing together the knowledge that did not seem to be studied thoroughly in Russia before. Last but not least, the biggest strength of this study is the comparison of the views of the ecosystem stakeholders on the same aspect of the industry existence: Millennials representing the modern wine consuming cohort. The conclusions driven allow to highlight the peculiarities of the wine consumption of this social group, which could have been invisible to Russian wine producers before. Thus, in response to this research question, this work not only contributed to the existing volume of knowledge, but also made it possible to formulate some practical recommendations for the modern wine business, that will be described later.
Even though some research conclusions appeared to be a bit unexpected, the methodology developed based on Stakeholder Theory proved its usefulness: it was seen that by being observed from different perspectives, the issue becomes easier to interpret.
3.1 Limitations to the study.
While the methodology of the study proved to be useful in terms of collecting the needed data and providing the researcher with the necessary background with the use of secondary data, some limitations to the research have to be acknowledged. Firstly, in the research setting part, it was proved that investment in the Russian wine industry is not well-developed, and there is almost no proof that private investors find the field investment-attractive. However, there still may be some investments that are only reflected in the internal documentation of the company and are not supposed to be disclosed due to being part of the trade secret or due to the unwillingness of the investor to reveal their identity. Secondly, the samples with both wine experts and wine industry representatives may not be absolutely representative, since the choice of those participants was restricted and partly fell under convenience sampling, which might not have been the best in terms of proving the validity of the results. Thirdly, there is a limitation regarding the Millennials participating in the research. Given the nature of the sample and its relative modesty, the data collected cannot be claimed in all probability representative for the whole social cohort. Fourthly, the study is claimed to be exploratory, and the results of it cannot be generalized to the scientific field at this point since the interviews' participants were mainly representatives of the big cities with large population numbers. Last but not least, since the research is exploratory, it can only observe the issue primarily and may not cover all the existing aspects. These limitations, taken into consideration, provide the path for future potential research within the Russian wine industry.
3.2 Practical recommendations
One of the initial aims of this project was to provide some practical recommendations for the wine industry representatives. This stage of the research does not imply any direct orders to follow, but some suggestions for the further activity of the wine business. These activities are determined by attracting Millennials as Russian wine consumers.
As it was analyzed before, Millennials tend to appreciate media engagement when it comes to advertising wine. Thus, for the wine producers involving social networking platforms such as Instagram and Facebook would become a useful measure to attract modern wine drinkers. What is more, involving influencers and media opinion leaders seems to affect the awareness of Russian wine culture positively among Millennials as well as the further profits increase. Also, it was noticed that many websites of the wineries were not easy to use, and the links were not intuitive to follow. Some wine producers tend to include QR codes on the back labels of wine bottles, making them lead the customer to the website of the company. However, since some websites are not dragging enough attention at first glance, customers do not linger on it. However, in the opposite case, if the consumer remained on the website of the wine brand longer, the personal brand's significance would increase. Collaborations with bars and restaurants were mentioned by both wine experts and Millennials as the central point for the modern consumers' engagement. Hence, for the Russian wine producers, such collaborations and partnerships would be an excellent opportunity to increase the visibility of the products and present their uniqueness. Last but not least, it was identified that Millennials tend to pay much attention to the appearance of the wine bottles they buy. Thus, it is recommended to the wine producers to focus on what the bottles look like by developing the design of the label and providing the recommendations for combination with food on the backside of the bottle.
3.3 Future research
The results of this project open several possibilities for future studies. Firstly, further research in the Russian wine industry may be composed. As the first step, the study can be duplicated for more regions of Russian other than Saint-Petersburg and Moscow. Conducting such research within different regions of Russia may lead to various interesting conclusions. Secondly, following Stakeholder Theory, more stakeholders may be involved in the further similar studies. Such participating parties as, for example, waiters and bartenders working in the Russian bars and restaurants or governmental structures that are in touch with the industry may give some interesting insights into the new research. Another opportunity for future research would be conducting a comparative analysis of the Russian wine industry and the industry of one of the older European wine industries in order to display characteristics that can be adopted. Last but not least, further detailed studies of identified social cohort (Millennials) may be conducted, since there is still a scientific gap in the analysis of the consumption patterns and consumer behavior characteristics of this generation.
Conclusion
In modern Russia, the wine culture, as well as the wine industry in general, are far from being called prospering. However, since the country has historically been named one of the most prominent alcoholic beverages' consumers in the world, and now is very influenced by the global trends such as sustainability, minimalism, proper value proposition of the companies, Russian wine seems to be gaining its potential back. On the contrary, there is a chance that Russian wine struggles mainly because of being unknown by its main potential local consumer. There is a lack of reputation, thus, positioning and promoting the local brands need to be compelling and convincing, which requires a detailed analysis of the industry, its strengths and weaknesses, and its current and future target audience. In this research, the major both positive and negative features of the industry were identified with the help of the wine industry representatives and experienced wine experts. Among positive characteristics, the potential of the industry based on its historical significance was mainly stressed, while within the negative part, there were highlighted the difficulties of the industry to cooperate with the government, to target the customers and to find a proper price niche for their product.
Millennials are a powerful part of the whole country's consumption. They strive to earn money and spend it. They not only look for companies that would satisfy their needs and propose quality products but also strive to find the brands that would appeal to them as a generation, to the values they share, views they bring to the world. What is more, one of the consumption trends nowadays is the trend for drinking wine. Wineries and wine factories seem to grow and develop, and new wine bars open in seek for introducing the widest varieties of wines from all over the world. However, Russian Millennials usually fail to support the domestic wine industry for many reasons, among which there is unawareness and its lame image. Consequently, it is time for Russian wine producers to consider Millennials as their target audience and keep up with their demands, at the same time mitigating the lack of knowledge existing. This research contributes to the field both theoretically and practically by providing the portrait of Millennials as the modern wine drinkers. The main characteristics of Millennials as wine drinkers were identified. Millennials were acknowledged as the wine consumers who tend to buy wine of 350-800 rubles per bottle, usually looking for the bottle that looks good enough to share it with the friends or to post it on social media. What is more, it was found out that Millennials prefer to buy wine in supermarkets more than in specialty stores; however, they are also very fond of consuming wine in bars and restaurants. The primary purpose of purchasing wine was identified as a special occasion of any type, and the main feature distinguishing this beverage from others was defined to be an aesthetic pleasure.
Stakeholder Theory proved its worth concerning the Russian wine industry. It was ascertained that the main stakeholders in the wine industry ecosystem sometimes have oppositely different opinions on the modern consumer of Russian wine. It is, for example, that while wine industry representatives believe to be having Millennials as the main customers, Generation Y itself proves to be unaware of all the Russian wine brands introduced on the market. It is also the main challenge which would have to be affronted in the nearest future. While wine experts and Millennials believe the main goal is to be increasing the visibility of the product, involving media and developing the positioning, industry representatives identify the main aims of the Russian wineries as expanding the volume capacities and the lands. These differences identify the existing problems in the industry since the needs of the consumers and wine producers are sometimes drastically different from what the producers focus on.
This study explores in detail the problem of Russian Generation Y not willing to consume Russian wine. Through meticulous analysis of the previously done research and preliminary in-depth interviews, the project provides the results to be used as a recommendation for wine business participants on how to develop the industry following Russian Millennials' needs and desires. This project can not only help to improve the image of the Russian wine business in general, but also raise awareness about the main features of Russian Generation Y as consumers. What is more, the results of this study may be useful for the current practitioners in the field as well as for the marketers in the wineries striving to analyze and target the consumers accurately.
The issue considering Millennials' consumption of Russian wine has not been vastly researched and studied yet. Thus, this project may contribute to the field significantly. Both providing future research with the needed background information and forming the basis for further data usage, the study results in both valuable theoretical and useful practical conclusions for all parties involved.
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