Features of Russian Consumers Behavior while Choosing Alcoholic Products: the Case of Whiskey

Alcohol consumption in Russia remains at a high level, there’re a lot of brands int his market in various price segments, and the state strictly limits the promotion of alcoholic products. In these conditions, companies have to find effective ways to conquer consumers taking into account the law and features of Russian consumption. The paper describes the process of making a purchase decision on the example of whiskey because this category lags behind other categories in the segment of spirits such as vodka, brandy. The aim of the work is to identify the features of consumer behavior in the Russian market of spirits, and the development of recommendations for the promotion of whiskey. To achieve this goal were conducted a desk study and a field research. The desk study included an analysis of the Russian market of spirits and a review of legal restrictions in the promotion of alcoholic drink brands in Russia. For the first stage of the field research (a semi-structured interview) a guide was developed based on the received data. At the second stage, a quantitative data collection method was used - an online survey. As a result of the survey, clusters of whiskey consumers and the features of their behavior were identified, and recommendations were developed for the promotion of alcoholic beverages for each of the segments.