A new study that looked at the characteristics of wine drinkers in Nigeria found that they are more likely to be educated, married and earn a high income.

This was the result of a study published in the Mayfair Journals, which was authored by Osadebamwen Anthony Ogbeide of the Agribusiness Services, Adelaide, Australia and Ideba Ele of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension at the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

The authors looked at who were more likely to consume wine and their preferences.

They found that the wine market has large educated and high income consumers. The social breakdown of wine consumers shows that it is a product consumed mainly by the middle and upper class strata of society.

They also found that wine consumers are more likely to be married and between the ages of 30 and 59 years. Those over 59 tend to drink less either due to lifestyle changes or because of health reasons.

The study was conducted in the three geo—political zones of southern Nigeria, principally, South-South cities of Port Harcourt and Calabar, South-Eastern cities of Enugu and Onitsha and South-Western cities of Lagos and Ibadan.

Five hundred respondents were surveyed but 13 surveys were discarded due to anomalies.

Of the 487 respondent’s questionnaires tallied, they found that 87% were males and the rest females. However, they felt that the results may have been skewed in favour of males because sources of data collection may have influenced the male dominance of the sample.

The data was collected at sales point and the males are known to be more involved in the purchase of alcoholic beverages despite both sexes involvement in the consumption. In addition, most Nigerian homes are headed by males who are often the decision makers.

The survey was conducted during Christmas / New Year festival period.

In addition, the study found that wine drinkers were 69% more likely to be married. On education, the study showed that wine consumers were more likely to have a Bachelor’s degree / HND (Higher National Diploma).
The survey also showed that 80% percent of wine drinkers earned a good enough income to sustain their wine related lifestyle. About 41% of the respondents made over N340,000 per month.

Based on the survey results, it can be inferred that education, occupation and income play an important role in a consumer’s ability to purchase and consume wine.

Consumption Patterns

The study also looked at consumption patterns of wine consumers, such as frequency of wine consumption.

It showed that 49.90% of the respondents said that they consumed wine a few times a week; 18.28% said that they drank wine every day; while 11.70% said that they drank wine once a week; and 7.19% indicated they consumed wine every fortnight.

The group that consumed wine only once per month represented less than 7% of the respondents, while almost 6% said they consumed wine once in a period longer than one month.

If one should aggregate the results, it would show that almost 80% of the respondents consumed wine regularly.

When asked how much they consumed per month, the survey showed that 54.4% drank 1-5 bottles per month; while 26.69% consumed 6-10 bottles; 9.86% took 11 – 15 bottles. Almost 6% consumed 16 – 20 bottles per month; and 3.08% drank more than 20 bottles.

The authors felt that this consumption showed that Nigerians traditionally are not wine drinkers but with more exposure and better knowledge, the numbers will rise.

Consumer Preference: Wine attributes

When asked to rank the attributes that greatly influenced their decision to buy a wine, more than 59% of the respondents said taste was the most important factor influencing their purchasing and consumption decision. Only 9% ranked it as the least influencer of their decision to purchase wine.

“This goes to show that wine is an experience product. It can best be assessed by consuming it”, the authors said.

The country of origin ranked second as the biggest influencer of decision to purchase wine.

The result has implications for the wine consumers buy and the strategy the marketers use.

Consumer Preference: Wine source, alcoholic beverage type

When asked what wine they preferred – imported or local wine? About 46.38% said they preferred imported/foreign wine, while 54% of the respondents said they preferred locally made alcoholic beverages (30.80% preferred made in Nigeria wines and 22.82% preferred natural/palm wine sold as bottled, canned wine or in the traditional kegs).

Consumer Preference: Sales outlet perspective

And finally, when asked where they normally purchased their wine from, 35% said from supermarkets, 25% said from liquor stores, 14.25 said from restaurants and 23% said from bars or pubs. Only less than 2% said they purchased their wines from the internet.