Inniskillin Wine Case Study

Taking Inniskillin Icewine Global with Constellation

Prepared by: Jeet Jani

Royal Roads University

IHMN 305

October 23, 2011

Taking Inniskillin Icewine Global with Constellation

Introduction

The global Icewine market has grown over the decade and the Canadian icewine products have built a great reputation world around. In this case study, I’m considering the position of expanding the Inniskillin Icewine product to new markets for the company to maximize their premium margins. Also, discussed is the importance of establishing Canada’s Icewine designations and stricter production standards. Discussed in the paper are the high-end icewine market and their premium margins, expansion of the Inniskillin product in various markets using resources from Constellation’s portfolio, and certain draw backs of such an expansion. The standardization of Canadian Wine production would also boost the Inniskillin product in the international market.

Body

Inniskillin’s Current Marketing

The Inniskillin wines have been a popular choice in the icewine market since being awarded the Grand Prix d’Honneur at Vinexpo in 1991. Vincor International, Inniskillin’s parent company decided to promote the icewines by Inniskillin in the global markets after observing their popularity with the Japanese tourists and the high margins it would offer, which were to be reinvested into this category itself. Under this plan, a US$65 bottle was created which would be sold at various duty-free stores internationally at airports, certain downtown & resort locations in partnership with the DFS Group (Duty Free Shoppers). This allowed the operators to yield 50% plus margin over the suggested retail prices. Paige mentions in her article that the Inniskillin icewine with its prices of $100 to $145 would end up only on selected dining tables (Paige, 2004), this shows to us the importance that the Inniskillin company put on maintaining their exclusivity in markets all around the world. But as the...