Bathroom Renovation Package Deals

Bathroom Renovation Package Deals

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- For givers looking to spread around a little liquid holiday cheer, the world's distillers and vintners have plenty on VAP this year.

One of the hotter gift trends in the liquor industry is that of "value-added packaging," i.e. a favorite tipple that comes complete with free glasses, shaker or other drink-related doodad. Generally available at the same price as a plain old bottle, VAPs have proven popular with consumers, although they carry lower margins for their makers and can create shelf-space headaches for retailers.

While still a relatively small part of overall sales, VAPs are important to liquor makers for the way they can drive product sampling while giving loyal customers a little something extra at relatively low cost. They are also a big part of many holiday marketing drives, a period that is crucial to the industry, which sees roughly 40% of its annual retail sales coming in the fourth quarter.

"It has been kind of cyclical," said Matt Carroll, vice president of marketing at Patron Spirits, which owns a line of eponymous tequilas, along with Pyrat rum. "Fifteen or 20 years ago, it could be kind of a faux pas to give liquor to clients or friends but nowadays it is back in vogue and the more expensive the better."

His company's highest-end offering is the $499 Gran Patrón Burdeos, anejo tequila aged partly in Bordeaux barrels, bottled in a crystal decanter and sold in a box carved form a single piece of black walnut.

The Patron offering is representative of the trend toward more lavish and inventive VAPs: No longer merely a pair of 25-cent logoed glasses tossed in a cardboard package, recent VAPs have featured everything from the stainless steel cigar holder/flask combination offered up by Fortune Brands' FO, +12.00% Jim Beam to Pernod Ricard's (012069) Stolichnaya with either Russian toasting glasses or a bottle of flavored schnapps thrown in.

"They are definitely better in quality," said David Fleming, editor of alcohol industry trade magazine Impact. "A decade or so ago, they were not as nice, not as luxurious. They are now being taken much more seriously."

And the public has responded, he adds: "They are getting to be a more popular gift and the upscaling of so many brands fits in perfectly with that strategy."

VAPs come in a wide array of price points: a 750-milliter bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon with a pair of rocks glasses might go for $20 to $25 while Gran Patrón Platinum, a silver tequila that comes in a crystal decanter inside a handmade maple box, sells for about $199.

"Our holiday value-added packaging offers attractive, premium opportunities for . . discerning consumers," said Lorena Mendez, brand manager of Chivas Regal. "It's important to cut through the clutter during this all-important selling season."

On the retail level, "I've seen lot of good tequila packaging this year," said Steve Kaiden, owner of Winfield-Flynn, a Manhattan liquor store, citing Patron and Diageo's DEO, +2.23% Cuervo as top examples.

But, he added, the extras absolutely have to come for free: "If there is an additional charge [for the VAP], customers tend to think twice and say no thank you."

A little something extra

Among the other VAPs and plain old fancy hooches available this season:

• 18-year-old Chivas Regal blended scotch complete with branded ice bucket and wood box ($69.99).
• Skyy Spirits' Jean-Marc XO, a five-times distilled vodka made from French grain that is the most expensive mass vodka in the U.S. ($60).
• 1998 Perrier Jouet Fleur Rose champagne in a "luxury coffret" that includes a pair of handpainted champagne flutes ($299).
• Cabo Wabo Reposado tequila packaged with a "limited edition margarita lime press shaker." ($49.99)
• Zen Green Tea Liqueur, made from Japanese tea leaves, herbs and other flavors. ($30)
• Martell VSOP cognac in a box with two branded snifters ($35.99) or Martell Cordon Bleu with the snifters and blue lacquer box ($79.99).

One hot gift -- "especially for the younger generation" -- Kaiden sees is absinthe, a watered-down form of which was just legalized for sale in the U.S. this year after being banned since 1915.

Otherwise, he said, you can't go wrong with "vodka, vodka, vodka. People feel comfortable with bringing it to a party or giving it as a gift. It is the most popular spirit and it will get used."

Bathroom Renovation Package Deals

Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/combining-liquor-drink-paraphernalia-makes-for-more-potent-gifts