Wine companies hunting for Export managers: increase the turnover by internationalizing the brand

Italian wine sector is going through a period of deep transformation characterized by significant global challenges, and new market opportunities. The analysis of the salary of the experts of the sector, as well as the survey of figures who are the most sought-after today inside the industry, can be an excuse to analyze the main trends and changes of the industry, which, in 2024, confirmed to be going through a complex phase. In this way, the report realized by Wine department of Michael Page Italia, and analyzed by WineNews, British company specialized in the recruitment of qualified experts and managers, explains of a sector which, in Italy, invests much as human resources in commercial department, mainly in export and marketing, but less, on the contrary, regarding productive part, where agronomists and enologists are, on average, however, the figures who earn less (between 25,000 and 40,000 gross euros for Junior yearly, between 35,000 and 55,000 euros with at least five years of experience, and more than 55,000 euros with more than 10 years of experience), and among the few roles not to benefit from companies bonuses. “This happens because they do not have tangible aims linked to marginality as commercial people have on the contrary - explains to WineNews Pierluigi Catello, manager for the department dedicated to research and profile selection for wine businesses in Michael Page - and, seen the difficult 2024, many companies tried to compensate the registered decreases investing in professional figures capable of increasing the turnover, and be back to the figures of 2022, or 2023. And, who brings to the increase of turnover, it is a person who sells”. At the level of export, the registered decline in volumes of the last year is mainly due to the worsening of global economic conditions, and to the reduction of consumption in mature markets, such as the European ones. However, Italy showed a higher resilience compared to the main competitors such as France, and particular credit goes to Prosecco, a global leader capable of partially compensating the difficulties of the other segments. In this way, in 2024, Italian wine companies concentrated their focuses on the development of foreign markets so that the most researched role overall by wine businesses is Export manager (30-45,000 gross euros yearly for Juniors, 45-60,000 euros with at least 5 years of experience, 60-90,000 euros with 10 years of experience, and with company bonuses up to 20%): “many think that employ an expert of this type is a guarantee of turnover increase - says Catello - but, it is not always this way. Surely, there is rush to the research of this figure, but it is not said that it brings immediate benefits, time is needed. Having many contacts does not mean selling, and, maybe, consulted buyers have already other brands in their wallet, and don’t want to move to other companies”. But, there is – according to the report by Michael Page – an emerging market, Asia, where Italy has not fully focused yet, and which currently represents only 7% of Italian exports due to cultural barriers, and strong presence of France, which was able to invest decisively in these areas. But, finding an expert capable of internationalizing the brand of the company, also and mainly in Asiatic markets, it is not easy seen the much concurrence which, consequently, makes also the average salary increase progressively: “in a context in which many look for the same figure, the best economic offer can make the difference. As well as flexibility: there is also who accepts to earn less, but, maybe working from home. There are companies going to look for Resident experts directly, who live in the place”, explains Catello, who then highlights another theme: “in wine world, there is closure towards outside. Employing wine companies want people who already work, or who have worked in the sector. And, this is a limit because there are experts, but not so many. There are similar contexts such as food or spirits sectors from which we could get, but this happens mostly regarding the productive part mainly from beverage, while, on the contrary, for the commercial part, it is more complex”. Moreover, wine consumption is increasingly more influenced by themes linked to sustainability, health, and bond with the territory. Consumers, particularly younger ones, tend to prefer light, fresh wines and with contained alcoholic gradation, and this led to the growth of no alcohol wine segment (in Italy, the authorization to produce them has been recently allowed, ed), and of sparkling wines. And, in this way, in addition to Export managers, wine companies have invested also in other key figures both to reinforce the presence of the brand on the national territory – such as Area manager Italia (30-40,000 gross euros yearly for Juniors, 40-55,000 euros with at least 5 years of experience, 55-75,000 euros with 10 years of experience, and with company bonuses up to 20%) specialized in Horeca channel – both in roles linked to marketing area – such as Marketing managers (60-65,000 gross euros yearly for Juniors, 65-70,000 euros with at least 5 years of experience, 70-75,000 euros with 10 years of experience, and with company bonuses up to 20%), Brand managers (30-40,000 gross euros yearly for Juniors, 40-50,000 euros with at least 5 years of experience, 50-55,000 euros with 10 years of experience, and with company bonuses up to 20%), and marketing Directors (75-85,000 gross euros yearly for Juniors, 85-100,000 euros with at least 5 years of experience, 100-120,000 euros with 10 years of experience, and with company bonuses up to 20%) - highlighting the importance of aimed strategies to promote the brand, and adapt to new consumption trends. But, in front of all of this, the atavistic problem of the lack of manpower in vineyard and in winery remains: “it is a theme linked to global dynamics, and not exclusively wine – underlines Catello – it is increasingly more difficult to find people available to carry out a hard job, which maybe, requests also for many consecutive days. New generations look for more comfortable works. Also companies, which, in addition to wine sector, deal with hospitality, struggle to find waiters, chefs, or wait staff. Few competitive salaries weight. An idea could be that of ensuring the accommodation to the worker to allow him/her to amortize costs. But, in any case, find people to carry out struggling jobs is very difficult today, and it is worth for all sectors, it is not a peculiarity of the world of wine, even if it is right that a reflection about the theme is made also by wine businesses”.