100% Rye Whisky as a Luxury Product in China: Case Kyrö Distillery Company

Abstract

Today marketers face a hard decision: either they stay on their local market or they attempt to enter the global market. Kyrö Distillery Company wants to choose the second option and one of their main targets is the Chinese market. The main aim of this thesis is to give suggestions to Kyrö Distillery Company about how to market successfully their 100% rye whisky on the Chinese luxury market.

According to the main suggestion of the thesis, at first, a difference should be made between „new luxury” and „old luxury” market, and also between western and Chinese market. Therefore, the first half of the theoretical part is about the new market phenomenon called by many as „new luxury”, and about its standing in relation to „old” or more classic luxury market. The second half of the theoretical part attempts to demonstrate the main cultural characteristics of recent China, and so to find out how these characteristics affect Chinese consumer behavior. The theoretical part is based on contemporary theories and findings of contemporary researchers. The second, empirical part is for either denying or underpinning the theoretical findings, suggestions and hypothesis. The empirical part of the thesis utilizes a mixed method research that is based on 32 questionnaires filled out by Chinese respondents that were considered as potential members of the target group of 100% rye whisky.

According to the findings of this thesis, mainly young Chinese consumers with a considerable purchasing power could be the target group of 100% rye whisky. Although it turned out that this consumer group is open-minded enough to try out something new, findings demonstrated that they also consider some of the traditional Chinese values important. Finding also show that 100% rye whisky should be marketed according to the rules of „new luxury” rather than of „old luxury”.