Author: Ayse Naz Akyildiz
MA International Business -University of Greenwich

Marketing Barriers Hindering the Global Positioning of Turkish Wines

Abstract

Turkish premium wines face several marketing issues which hinders the global popularity. The research focuses on the limited international brand recognition, inadequate distribution channels and lack of effective promotional strategies to understand the struggle of Turkish wine industry.
The intense competition among the wine producing regions leads to market fragmentation. This makes it quite difficult for the single region in Turkey to establish a distinct identity. Turkey’s marketing issues obstruct divine industry from achieving global recognition. Due to the lack of strong branding as well as storytelling, it prevents the Turkish wind from standing out despite the historical roots in viticulture.
A primary qualitative interview session has been conducted on 10 wine experts to collect the prime information regarding the marketing issues faced by Turkish wine and it prevents it from having global popularity.
One of the key findings highlighted by the study is the importance of cultural storytelling to enhance consumer perception. The major problems in the Turkish wine industry are found to be the absence of a strong national identity, like Georgia. Another major finding by the study is the market penetration and market reach through customer education initiatives. Overall, successful strategies in the wine industry include storytelling, wine tourism, selective distribution and digital presence.
Despite these major findings the research acknowledges its limitation in the reliability and secondary sources and empirical data to understand customer perceptions. Future studies need to focus on primary data through consumer surveys and market experiments to gain deeper insights on branding strategies.