When is a Fact Not a Fact?

A couple of months ago I mentioned to someone that sales of fine wines were declining (the really expensive stuff). He wasn’t happy.

In fact, he robustly disputed my interpretation of the statistic I was quoting.  He argued that since it was only the rate of growth that was slowing, fine wine sales were absolutely, well, fine.

He was certain that there was no reason to read anything in to this reduced rate of growth and was sure that it was in no way a reaction of consumers to the economic situation (as I was suggesting).

Knowing that consumers behave like sheep rather than independently, I suggested that if growth was declining so significantly – it was growing at 24% in March 08 and has dropped to just 1% in the same month this year – it hinted that a turning point might have been reached.

If my theory was correct, there was good reason to expect fine wine sales would start to decline in the very near future.

When all is said and done, fine wines are a status item; there are alternatives that fulfil the same role at a lower price. The only difference is that the lower-priced options don't fulfil someone’s desire to look superior to others.

Whilst studies using brain scans have found that people genuinely think that a wine labelled with a higher price tastes better, when times are hard – or look like they might be about to get financially testing – people perceive price differently.

More to the point, all the talk of economic difficulty, irrespective of how they are being affected personally, activates the neural paths that lead to associations with not having money.

The unconscious is first and foremost responsible for protecting us, and when it has been primed to focus on money matters so much, it can’t help but push thoughts of budgeting into our mind.

Turn the page for a surprising twist and a technique you might want to use in your business...  

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