Global News in the Maritimes has a short news clip on Alcohol consumption in women (Dec. 29, 2011).

In less than two minutes, the video clip looks at trends in drinking, women as a new alcohol market, and reviews the new low risk drinking guidelines.

I found the info about women as a growing market for the alcohol industry interesting. They look at the case study of Girls’ Night Out Wines which is a series of Ontario VQA wines produced by Colio Estate Wines. “The makers of Girls’ Night Out wanted a brand that spoke directly to women and their experiences. It was the number one launch in 2008 and remains a bestseller.”

The reporter interviews Alison Modesto, Sales and Marketing Coordinator at Colio Estate Wines, who says: “Women have something like 85% of the purchasing decision power for wines between the $15 and $20 range. So, once we were successful with our launch, I think that sort of awoke the other wineries to realize ‘Hey, this is another market.’ ” According to Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at the Schulich School of Business: “It used to be that women accounted for no more than 14-20% of all alcoholic beverages purchased.” As I’ve mentioned in other posts, this isn’t a trend limited to Canada.

For more on this topic, see earlier posts: