Vodka is a popular spirit in France, but what brands do French drink?

In the article of this week, we will discuss about the French market of vodka, so that we have a better idea of what we will talk about but also to state main hypothesis about the consumption of vodka, the power of branding and the spirit market in general.

According to IWSR data, Vodka is the third most consumed spirit category in France. It accounts for 13% of the whole spirit consumption (in 2011) whereas whisky is the dominant category, topping the list at an outstanding 68, 2%, and rum comes second at 13,4%.

Vodka is a popular spirit in France, but what brands do French drink?

Top 5 vodka brands in France in 2011

Poliakov is the most consumed brand in France. It is also the cheapest one. For the French market, vodka consumption is therefore mostly based regarding quantity/price rather than quality. Moreover, Poliakov isn't the only one cheap vodka making it into the top 5 : Sobieski comes third in terms of volume (although it is 5th in terms of value).

Market shares are also very centralized and brand driven, with the top 5 brands doing 70% of the total market in both volume and value.

This leads us to our first assertion: French people don't know many vodkas, and with the clear domination of cheap vodkas in the top 5, we can safely say that most of the consumption is done off-trade, which means that French buy most of their spirits at the supermarket in order to consume it at home, rather than in bars/nightclubs (on-trade).
In fact, the only time Frenchs choose their spirit is at the supermarket: when they are in bars/nightclubs, they rarely ask the barman about what spirit he will mix in their cocktails.

image by LSA Conso

If the market is off-trade, influences and personal drive are taken to a whole new level: as it is not likely that the consumer will drink alone (as opposed to his/her glass he/she’d have personally drunk in a bar), the choice of the category will be strongly decided by the group rather than by one person. It’s alright if there is that one person who can’t stand tequila. Brandy/Cognac is out of the question, and gin is non-existant. So the choice remains between one of the three main categories: whisky, rum and vodka.


And it is then that branding comes into play ...

Mathieu