Brand research for dossier

Product

Regionals is an established family owned liquor retailer operating in Wellington since 1987.

Regional Wines has an extensive range of Beer, Wine and Spirits. This includes obscure and premium options as well as more affordable everyday drinks.

An important part of regionals service is their knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff who refer to themselves as beverage “geeks”. These staff guide and recommend products from their vast selection for those customers who want to find something obsure, special or new.

Regionals offers tasting events and beverage subscriptions creating a “hub of people, passion and education around the marvelous craft of fine Wine, Beer and Spirits”.

Regionals offers a premium wholesale distribution service to bars and restaurants around Wellington. This includes training and support programs to educate these establishments so that they can deliver the passion and knowledge to their own customers that Regionals prides themselves in. Regionals offers free delivery within the Wellington region for these customers.

Regionals ship anywhere in New Zealand and offers a same day chilled delivery service within the Wellington region.

Regional has a function catering service for corporate events, wedding and other celebrations. This includes a dedicated staff member to support in the selection of the drinks list.

All of these services have a strong reliance on the knowledge of the staff to guide and inspire both corporate customers and individuals.

Place 

Regionals is in the higher end of the market of liquor stores in Wellington. This is partly because they stock a vast selection of premium and obscure products. However it is more so because they offer a personalized service for all types of transactions, giving a higher lever of service than is necessarily expected from an everyday customer. It is also because Regionals runs events and tastings to promote passion and education around their products, which is again is a higher end level of service.

Price 

Because Regionals is a store devoted to the passion and education of the craft of fine liquor they have a large selection of high quality beverages. This includes craft and independent brands including a large New Zealand wine selection as well as the premium and hard to fine brands. Because of these products regionals has a higher price point the lower end liquor stores in Wellington such as Big Barrel and Liquor King. However Regionals also stocks a large selection of cheaper wines and mainstream spirits and beers catering to a much wider customer base than it initially appears to. 

Promotion

Regionals has be operating as a wholesaler since 1987 and Retailer since 1990. Because they have been around so long they have built themselves a strong reputation, as they have become an established and trusted business in Wellington. This mean a large part of their promotion comes about through word of mouth. Regionals mention on their website that supplies liquor to a number of respected bars and restaurants around Wellington such as Ortega Fish Shack, Dockside, Avida and Hippopotamus. By mentioning these they the reputations of these establishments help to endorse the quality of regionals products. Regionals has a website, Facebook page and Twitter however their online presence isn’t strong. Their Website is hard to navigate. Regionals is much more effective in promoting their brand through their large exterior signage on their store which can be easily seen from the busy road around the Basin Reserve. As well as their logo on their truck that delivers products around Wellington city.

Competition

     

There are a number of liquor stores around wellington, we believe Moore Wilsons wine, beer and spirits department is one of regional wines main competitors. This is because they both are suppliers to bars and restaurants in Wellington as well as being a retail store with a wide selection of local beverages. Like the other departments in Moore Wilsons the wine, beer and spirits department is in a very paired back setting, concrete floors, raw shelving and in the canter of the room the wine is displayed in their original freighting packaging giving a sense of ‘straight from the source’ transparency and authenticity.

Like Regionals Moore Wilsons also has craft beer on tap, but with only 5 choices.

Macro-trends

Provenance is increasingly important to us both for products as businesses. Once New Zealand made was shameful and now it is super important and encouraged and the rest of the world wants a piece of that too, not just us! This is affected by social scares like chemicals in baby powder, bird flu outbreaks, nuclear explosions and other nasty events that cause contamination. New Zealand seems to hold this pure, top quality, natural aesthetic that creates safety and security in the belief you are consuming something that is good for the planet and you. As more and more businesses are being brought by overseas companies, it is becoming more important to support the locally owned businesses we have left. Because of this many consumers will choose to go to the local family owned business even if they pay a little more over the off shore owned chain.

Social connection

Our society has become very reliant on personal computers and phone for communication and entertainment. This has triggered anxiety around how much time people spend in their bedrooms on their laptops. Because of this people crave real social experiences. Designers have tried to eliminate this cultural trend by opening up work and education environments to have open planned shared community spaces. Brands now collaborate with each other and more retail stores are incorporating experiences and events into their service.

Transparency

Being an authentic and transparent brand is more important than ever. There is because there so much information online advertising can no longer fool customers. Online reviews means word of mouth travels faster than ever before. Therefore it increasingly important for brands to be honest and accountable to gain the trust of their customers. Social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have become a vital part of a brands promotion this is because it allows for two-way dialogue between the business and the customer helping to open up this transparency.