The wine industry is facing a continuous decrease in wine consumption on the part of the more frequent users of the product, particularly in the counties where wine drinking is…
Abstract
The wine industry is facing a continuous decrease in wine consumption on the part of the more frequent users of the product, particularly in the counties where wine drinking is traditional. The surveys show that alcohol is one important reason for not (or no longer) drinking. Several firms or research institutes are then turning to low alcohol wine as a solution to this problem, so far with limited success. Is the consumer ready to accept such a product in the first place? This paper is an attempt to identify those factors associated with the acceptance of a new product, taking low alcohol wine as an example. Acceptability of low alcohol wine is presented as an attitudinal model in which perception of product attributes, involvement in wine, consumption habits for wine and light products in general, personal innovativeness and consumption situations are determinant factors. This research suggests that low alcohol wine could get acceptance if the problem of the taste can be solved. In this case, low alcohol wine should be positioned as a wine rather than a diet drink.
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Josselin Masson, Philippe Aurier and François d'hauteville
Part of the steady decline of wine consumption in France might be attributed to a growing criticism of the level of alcohol content of the wines. Recent declarative surveys…
Abstract
Purpose
Part of the steady decline of wine consumption in France might be attributed to a growing criticism of the level of alcohol content of the wines. Recent declarative surveys suggest that consumers consider favourably wines with lower contents of alcohol. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate experimentally the consumers' acceptability of a low‐alcohol wine, and to analyse the impact of the “low‐alcohol” cue on perceived quality.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the literature on expectancy disconfirmation and cognitive categorization, we have set up an experimental design involving blind tasting and full information tasting of three low‐alcohol wines and three regular wines on a sample of 73 consumers.
Findings
When comparing hedonic scores at blind level, there was no significant difference between low‐alcohol wine and regular wine. Expectations created by the “low‐alcohol” cue have a negative (but unsignificant) impact on overall evaluation, and individual characteristics have almost no effect on wine evaluation.
Research limitations/implications
The small size of the sample group of respondents and the quasi‐experimental context with no control group were the major limitations of this study.
Originality/value
For the wine marketers, the most interesting result was that reducing the alcohol content to 9 per cent did not seem to result in the product being devalued significantly. The study highlighted the overwhelming effect of the sensory quality of the wine on perceived quality. “Low‐alcohol” cue creates a low quality expectation, but has only a small influence on perceived quality.
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Ulrich R. Orth, Larry Lockshin and Francois d'Hauteville
This paper has the purpose of introducing the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Wine Business Research after the re‐launch from the International Journal of Wine…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper has the purpose of introducing the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Wine Business Research after the re‐launch from the International Journal of Wine Marketing including rationale, scope, goals, and objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a rationale for a journal such as IJWBR. It starts by outlining the global wine business as a complex and fruitful field to study, describes some streams of research, and identifies issues for future studies as potential further contributions to this journal.
Findings
There is a critical need for an outlet that provides an overview on current issues and topics in the wine business, promotes high quality research on all aspects related to managing wine and related businesses, and is accessible to both academics and the global wine trade.
Originality/value
This paper is essential for current and prospective readers of the journal and those who consider submitting to IJWBR.
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François d'Hauteville, Marianela Fornerino and Jean Philippe Perrouty
Disconfirmation of expectations is the mismatch between the expected and blind evaluation of a product. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relation between expected and…
Abstract
Purpose
Disconfirmation of expectations is the mismatch between the expected and blind evaluation of a product. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relation between expected and perceived value (quality), focusing on wines from the French regions with varying levels of notoriety and image content.
Design/methodology/approach
From the consumer's point of view, the hedonic evaluation of a product under full information (intrinsic and extrinsic) is considered as a measure of perceived quality. Generally, the perception of the quality of a product differs according to tasting conditions (blind, or full information). Based on previous literature on food marketing it is assumed that the change of preference between blind and full conditions reflects the influence of extrinsic information (here, the region of origin). Two types of results can be expected from disconfirmation: “assimilation” occurs when the final evaluation of the product changes in the direction of the expectation provided by the extrinsic cue, whereas “contrast” occurs when this change is contrary to the expectation. Five wines selected among regions with different reputation levels, and two groups of consumers, characterized by their level of expertise (trained/untrained students) are used in the experiment.
Findings
The experiments suggest that disconfirmation may be used to measure and interpret region of origin equity on a behavioural basis rather than just attitudinal.
Originality/value
Provides information resulting from research on disconfirmation of expectations.
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Eli Cohen, Francois d’Hauteville and Lucie Sirieix
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulties raised by the question of cultural differences in consumption behaviour studies, and proposes the best‐worst method as a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulties raised by the question of cultural differences in consumption behaviour studies, and proposes the best‐worst method as a tool for comparing data from a cross‐national survey.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from samples of wine consumers from Australia (n = 283), the UK (n = 304) and France (n = 147), using the BW procedure, where respondents have to assess what are the most and the least important attributes when choosing a wine at a restaurant.
Findings
Results show differences between the countries, with a clear contrast between the French, on the one hand, and the Australians and British, on the other. They confirm empirically the idea that the country may be a valid “culti unit” in cross‐cultural research.
Research limitations/implications
The authors suggest that the method works well in the context of this research, but does not avoid some of the uncontrollable biases of declarative data, nor the question of the relevance of some choice items in cultural contexts that can be very diverse (such as the role of a waiter in a restaurant).
Practical implications
The paper shows that the method can be used quite easily in a large number of studies where it is important to hierarchize choice cues and compare different segments of a population.
Originality/value
This fairly large scale study contributes to the marketing literature dealing with country of origin as a segmentation criteria, and exploring the concept and measurement of “cultural difference”. Finally, it fosters a scarce literature dealing with consumer behaviour in “on premise” situations.
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Marianela Fornerino and François d'Hauteville
This experimental research seeks to offer a method for measuring the respective product and brand contributions to the global perceived quality dimension in the case of five…
Abstract
Purpose
This experimental research seeks to offer a method for measuring the respective product and brand contributions to the global perceived quality dimension in the case of five brands of orange juices.
Design/methodology/approach
The disconfirmation of expectations approach method was used which employs the mismatch between expected and blind evaluation of a product. The assimilation effects (when the perceived quality of the product tends to be congruent with the expected quality attributed to the brand) and the contrast effects (when the perceived quality of the product is influenced negatively by the brand) were measured.
Findings
Results indicate an assimilation effect for the national brands, particularly strong with the most preferred brand, and a non‐significant brand effect for the retailer's brand, although both products were rated the same in the blind evaluation.
Practical implications
From a theoretical and methodological point of view, the research suggests that global measures of perceived quality may be more appropriate tools than analytical constructs from product attributes when evaluating brand equity.
Originality/value
A general experimental design of the disconfirmation of information is offered in order to evaluate the share of the product and the brand in the consumer assessment of the perceived quality of a brand. This design places the respondents in two successive cognitive processes when they evaluate the brand and the product, which explains the assimilations and/or contrast effects which have been observed.
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Ronald E. Goldsmith and François d’Hauteville
A common approach to analysing markets and selecting the most profitable target consumers is to identify and focus on the heavy users. Although this is a widely used practice in…
Abstract
A common approach to analysing markets and selecting the most profitable target consumers is to identify and focus on the heavy users. Although this is a widely used practice in food marketing, no general theory describes the characteristics of heavy users of food products. The purpose of this paper is to use data from four empirical studies to test hypotheses about heavy wine users with the objective of developing a comprehensive model of heavy usage. The topics of the surveys were wine attitudes and behaviours. Data came from samples of students and adult US consumers. The findings showed consistently that heavy wine users were more likely to be interested in and involved with wine. When compared with studies of heavy users in other product fields, the beginnings of a general model of heavy usage that focuses on product involvement rather than demographics can be proposed.
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Ronald E. Goldsmith, François d’Hauteville and Leisa R. Flynn
Presents findings validating French and German versions of the domain specific innovativeness scale or DSI, which was designed to measure consumer innovativeness for a specific…
Abstract
Presents findings validating French and German versions of the domain specific innovativeness scale or DSI, which was designed to measure consumer innovativeness for a specific product category. The data came from self‐administered surveys of 409 consumers in three countries: the USA (n = 121), Germany (n = 113), and France (n = 175). The study participants completed a questionnaire asking them to describe their wine‐related attitudes and behaviours. Data analysis showed that the DSI was unidimensional, high in internal consistency, positively correlated as hypothesised with wine usage (criterion validity), positively correlated as hypothesised with knowledge of and involvement with wine and uncorrelated with opinion seeking for wine (nomological validity), and unaffected by social desirability and acquiescence response styles.
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Franck Celhay and Juliette Passebois
The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the level of perceived atypicality in a wine label's design on the consumer's aesthetic appreciation and purchase intent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the level of perceived atypicality in a wine label's design on the consumer's aesthetic appreciation and purchase intent. Furthermore, it intends to highlight the moderating role of perceived risk in the relationship between these three variables.
Design/methodology/approach
Four Bordeaux wine labels providing the same information but with different designs are tested on a sample of 166 individuals. The respondents evaluate the labels in terms of perceived typicality and aesthetic appreciation. They are then asked to indicate what their purchase intentions would be for each label in respect of five different consumption occasions.
Findings
The results indicate a strong preference for the most typical label. However, this preference decreases when the perceived risk associated with the consumption occasion also decreases. For those consumption occasions perceived as less risky, the respondents seem more willing to choose labels with a moderately atypical design.
Originality/value
This research provides some answers to a problem recently raised with representatives of the wine industry: given that consumers seem to prefer traditional labelling, to what extent is it possible to differentiate a product in terms of design? The authors' results indicate that the acceptance of atypical designs is linked to the level of perceived risk at the moment of purchase. A brand that targets consumption occasions that are perceived as only slightly risky will therefore more easily be able to depart from the visual codes of its product category.
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Catherine Viot and Juliette Passebois‐Ducros
The purpose of this paper is to show that the branded wine concept refers to a very heterogeneous category as regards wine made in France, but this sort of wine can appeal to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that the branded wine concept refers to a very heterogeneous category as regards wine made in France, but this sort of wine can appeal to certain types of consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
An initial qualitative study was carried out to explore consumer representation as regards branded wine. A second, quantitative, study enabled us, through a cluster analysis, to identify brand‐sensitive consumer segments in the wine field.
Findings
There is a divergence in consumer representation between novices and experts. The former considers A.O.C.s (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, a French official label of protected geographical indication) and regions as brands while the latter have a narrower vision of what a branded wine means. The “discoverers”, the youngest consumers (18‐29 years old), who are interested in wine and have little knowledge of it are most liable to be influenced by wine brands. The novices and routine consumers are also brand sensitive but to a lesser degree. The experts, on the other hand, are not influenced by brands.
Research limitations/implications
The influence of the brand derives from the declarative. A more indirect measure which mixes the brand with other wine attributes would be preferable. The use of a sample of convenience means results can only be generalized with caution.
Practical implications
There indeed exists a place for branded wines on the French market but an association is needed with other attributes such as the origin and/or the grape variety.
Originality/value
Little research has been devoted to the French consumer's acceptance of branded wines.