【France】Consumption: The Boom of Bag-in-Box

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Editor’s Note

This article examines the surprising resurgence of bag-in-box wines, a market segment that saw explosive growth during the 2020 lockdowns, temporarily reversing a longer-term trend toward maturity. It highlights how the pandemic shifted consumer habits, offering a snapshot of a resilient and adaptable industry.

grand boise Romain Tosolini et Jean Simonet, Jean Simonet et sa femme Ana-Sofia sainte victoire
A Resilient and Explosive Market

Bag-in-box (BIB) wines experienced a significant upswing in 2020, largely due to lockdowns. This benefited rosés in particular, but also other wine colors and all formats.

The BIB segment, which had been steadily growing for about fifteen years, seemed to be reaching maturity, transitioning from double-digit growth in the 2000s to around 1% over the past three years.

“In a global wine market that took a hit, we already observed real resilience for BIB, and it literally exploded during the first lockdown,” noted Eric Marzec, Head of the Wine Division at IRI. “It even picked up again this autumn, rising +27% from the week the second lockdown was announced in late October, a period that is usually not very strong for sales.”

A study by Smurfit Kappa and Wine Intelligence estimated this autumn that there were 3.7 million new consumers of BIB-packaged wines in France and the United Kingdom during the first half of 2020. The phenomenon can be explained by consumers’ foresight in limiting store visits and purchasing higher average baskets.

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“The BIB proved to be a safe-haven value for storage, both for consumers and distributors, especially in mass-market retail,” estimated Philippe Dry, Director of Vignerons Ardéchois, which sells about 4 million units per year, half of the cooperative union’s volume. “It’s like a wartime reflex that mainly benefits large containers of 3, 5, or even 10 liters. It gave us a huge boost in March-April when we sold almost nothing else, and sales soared by +50% in June, which helped save the year with stable activity.”
Primarily an Economic Interest

BIB also meets an economic interest that has been accentuated by price increases due to the Egalim law and volume availability issues after several small harvests. While 10-liter formats are mainly for restaurateurs, 3 and 5-liter formats are purchased in hypermarkets and supermarkets and increasingly in wine merchant channels. While the number of purchases is comparable in units, the 5-liter format mechanically drives volumes (nearly 60%), whereas smaller 2.25-liter formats have not met with real success to date. BIB now accounts for 40% of wine purchases in mass-market retail but remains underrepresented with only 16% of shelf space*, as fixtures and merchandising are rather designed to showcase bottles. However, innovations could energize the segment.

“We are still wondering if this is a temporary spike or if the trend will be confirmed,” acknowledged Jacques Tranier, Director of Vinovalie, a cooperative union in the Southwest that markets 700,000 BIBs per year. “In the meantime, we have chosen to premiumize our offering with a 2.25-liter format called ‘Le Grand 8’, a Toulouse-area wine in three colors with octagonal packaging that allows for several storage possibilities (flat, upright, or lying down with two possible service taps). This also allows for dramatizing the aisle. Apparently, it sparked interest this autumn in the fifty or so test stores… provided it is positioned in the BIB aisle because in the central aisle, consumers don’t always understand what it is and try to open it like a canister.”

The offering is expected to be extended to varietal wines and organic AOPs in the spring, “while keeping a reasonable price per liter, not more than €3.50,” emphasized Jacques Tranier.

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Rosé as the Winner

BIB remains primarily rosé (42% vs. 32% for the overall still wine market).

“The offering is expanding and developing across all colors, but it remains predominantly rosé, with a strong summer seasonality,” specified Eric Marzec.

An observation shared by Philippe Brel, Director of the Estandon cooperative union in Provence:

“With the pressure on Côtes-de-Provence prices over the last 2-3 years, we had to give up on some BIB references because they were too expensive. The format is first and foremost an economic purchase, and it’s IGP rosé, particularly Mediterranean, that drives the category.”
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At Vignerons Ardéchois, the color also progressed by 7% in 2020, but “the format mainly allowed us to expand our clientele to higher socio-professional categories (CSP+) who had been rather reluctant until now. Ultimately, BIB during the lockdown made the bottle and the region known, and there are now more bridges between packaging types.” Hence the upcoming launch of the IGP Ardèche Orélie range in colored 3-liter BIBs to attract a new, uninhibited young clientele with fewer preconceptions. This seems to be confirmed by the Smurfit Kappa study, which estimates that four out of ten BIB buyers are under 35 years old.

* FranceAgriMer 2019 study

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⏰ Published on: January 13, 2021