Success Stories: Ideas for Potential Players

W/RWholesale / Retail Throughout its long history, the Pieroth estate has placed Sales / Services Pieroth K.K. high value on its personal relationships with private Developing the Japanese market clients. This remains a central part of its business philo- through personal relationships sophy today. Traditionally, the company waited for clients for over 30 years to visit a company and select their . When Chairman Elmar Pieroth and a younger generation of Pieroths took over the family business in 1955, however, the company adopted the more aggressive approach of sending repre- sentatives to visit clients and sell directly. The success of this strategy can be seen in Pieroth’s global expansion.

Today, Pieroth not only handles its own wines, it also supplies quality wines from other The Pieroth family’s 300 years of experience in the European . The company -growing region of Nahe represent a proud history and tradition that guarantee high-quality wines. is engaged in purchasing, bottling and worldwide sales, employing some 5,000 people.

The Pieroth family has been producing wine since 1675, establishing a proud tradition while advancing the art of growing and of . The family owns WIV Wein International A.G., the parent company of Pieroth Japan.

1968 Elmar Pieroth of German HQ visited Japan to confirm the market’s potential. 1969 Guntram Kintzel, current CEO of Pieroth Japan, seconded to Japan after setting up companies in France and Italy. 1971 Tokyo branch established as new company. 1974 Pieroth Japan K.K. established to assume all business of Tokyo branch.

“Our success in Japan comes from emphasizing personal relationships,” says CEO and Representative Director Guntram Kintzel. W/RWholesale / Retail

Sales / Services

Pieroth first entered the Japanese market in 1969. Elmar some people insisted that wine was nothing more than Pieroth had visited Japan the previous year and was weak whiskey!”

Nevertheless, Pieroth began to build a market base through direct contact with customers. The company offered only four types of German wine in the early days, but this has grown to a massive range of some 1,600 varieties from 16 countries. For the first three years, Kintzel himself was Pieroth Japan, but now the company has 500 employees, 50 sales offices in 32 locations nationwide and more than 250,000 clients.

Clients, almost all of whom are repeat customers, include long-standing corporate and private customers who have bought from Pieroth for 25 years or more. The company’s age-old policy of nurturing personal relationships has proven to be successful in the Japanese market. New clients usually discover the company through existing customers, or perhaps an exhibition or direct mailing.

According to Kintzel, Pieroth’s secrets of success include the parent’s strong support and trust in the subsidiary and a patient approach to market development. convinced of the potential of the Japanese wine market. He was impressed by the size and affluence of the “If it’s quick cash you’re after,” warns Kintzel, ”I recom- market, as well as consumers’ interest in quality mend you don’t enter the Japanese market at all.” products, strong loyalty to favored brands and openness to new goods and services. Japanese Operation Established : May 1974 Current Pieroth Japan CEO and Representative Director Capital : 950 million yen of Guntram Kintzel, the man who pioneered Pieroth’s Employees : Approx. 500 Japanese market, had previously established companies Business : Import of high-quality wines for retail to in France and Italy. consumers and wholesale to hotels and restaurants Location : 5th floor Shinagawa NSS Bldg., 2-13-31 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo Kintzel recalls, “France and Italy both have strong, URL : http://www.pieroth.jp patriotic views about wines and were extremely hard Parent company : WIV Wein International A.G. markets to break into. Back in 1969, however, Japan (Germany: approx. 4,500 employees) didn’t have a wine market. Awareness was so poor that