Drink up, folks. Prosecco sales are slowing and it's making everybody nervous.
What it means: DW, 'peak prosecco' doesn't mean we're running out of the stuff – it doesn't even mean we're drinking it less. We're still drinking more and more prosecco every year – sales went up 5 per cent in the past twelve months. But we're not drinking as much more per year as companies would like, and now they're worried we've hit 'peak prosecco' consumption.
How did this happen? Well, obviously someone's brought Brexit into the equation – they say the fall in the value of the pound in the past two years (as people have sold off British currency or investment in British business over fears at what's going to happen after we leave the EU) means that it's more expensive to import prosecco from Europe.
Possibly more importantly, though, is the question of 'price pointing'. Prosecco used to be seen as a luxury good, which only a select number of people could afford (it's price 'pointed' to a particular consumer type.)
But now, it's on pretty much every supermarket shelf at a fairly affordable price. That means it's lost is exclusive feel: so although there are more people buying prosecco than there would be if it cost more, which should mean higher profits, its appeal (and sales) may go down if it's no longer seen as something for a special occasion.
