“Female growers are able to charge higher prices than male growers for grapes of the same quality,” says Professor Fernandez-Mateo. “We know the grapes are of the same quality because all grapes in the region are measured on an official scale that’s been in use for over 100 years. Also, the limited supply of grapes and the rocketing demand for them mean that the price sellers can get for them is fairly inflexible. In short, it’s hard for buyers to price-discriminate against female growers.”
This is important because, in order to get a clear result, the researchers had to be sure they were only looking at what was causing this phenomenon on the seller side. In other words, they didn’t want to look at how buyers were treating sellers or vice versa. They wanted to look at the consequences of how the sellers – both male and female – were treating each other: the horizontal relationships, as opposed to the vertical ones.
It’s not news that social relations between buyers and sellers affect pricing. But in Champagne, meaningful relationships among female sellers have given them a premium on their prices. The amount isn’t huge, amounting to around €2,500 (£2,222) a year. But for grape growers who operate with an average of three employees it’s significant.
The women growers share valuable information about the grape-growing business, including information about pricing. Male growers, on the other hand, do not. There is an unwritten rule in the grape-growing community that it is simply not ‘done’ to discuss prices.
One woman in the study, Charlotte, commented: “There are many [male] growers who think they shouldn’t talk about prices. With men ... you have to keep quiet, not tell anything, do things on your own.” Another woman, Blanche, said: “We’re less bothered with [saying] ‘No, in Champagne, this is not the way things are done.’ We just go for it, so we can make better decisions.”
A male grower, Lucas, had a starkly different approach: “Price is not something people talk about in Champagne. It’s a private matter. For some reason, it makes people feel uncomfortable. I think it’s a bit distasteful anyway.” Lucas’s view sums up the attitude of most of the men interviewed. They mostly had no idea of the women’s different approach and the rewards they reap as a result.
RBtester1 3 years, 10 months and 27 days ago
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