Consumer behaviour and nsory preference differences:implications for wine product
marketing
Johan Bruwer
School of Agriculture,Food and Wine,The University of Adelaide,Glen Osmond,Australia
Anthony Saliba
National Wine and Grape Industry Centre,Charles Sturt University,Wagga Wagga,Australia,and
Bernadette Miller
School of Agriculture,Food and Wine,The University of Adelaide,Glen Osmond,Australia
Abstract
Purpo–Exploratory rearch was conducted in a well-known Australian wine region to determine the differences in the behaviour dynamics and nsory preferences of consumer groups.The overall aim is to gain some insights into the product style preferences of consumers and what this means in practical
terms to wine product marketing.
Design/methodology/approach–Information was obtained from a random sample of150visitors to ten wineries in the Yarra Valley wine region in Australia.Data were collected by means of lf-administration surveys using a highly structured questionnaire at each of the winery tasting room venues. Findings–Specific differences exist in the wine consumption behaviour and nsory preferences of males and females and between generational cohorts,specifically Millennial and older consumers.Females drink less wine than males,spend less thereon but tend to“compensate”for this by buying higher priced wine per bottle,which could reprent a risk-reduction strategy.Females are noticeably higher than their male counterparts in white wine consumption,showing a preference for a sweeter wine style at a young age,and reported a strong preference for medium body style wines over light and full-bodied wines.From a nsory preference viewpoint,fruit tastes and aromas are by far the most important,especially among females, as are vegetative characters,wood/oak,and mouth-feel characters.More males,on the other hand,preferred the aged characters of wine. Rearch limitations/implications–It is possible to target wine consumers in accordance with their gender and lifecycle stage as far as the nsory and certain behavioural aspects of the product are concerned.However,this should not be oversimplified and drive product marketing strategies in the wrong direction.
Originality/value–This study is of value to academic rearchers,wine industry practitioners and other wine distribution channel members alike,as it provides insights into consumer behaviour differences and one of the core tangible aspects of a wine product,namely the nsory preferences of consumers.
Keywords Wines,Gender,Consumer behaviour,Consumption,Age groups,Australia
Paper type Rearch paper
An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.
1.Introduction
As wine gradually becomes a lifestyle beverage,more and more people are drinking wine as reflected in statistics in the USA,UK,Australia and a growing number of other countries.For example,in the2009Gallup Poll50per cent of women in the USA named wine as their standard alcoholic drink,up from46per cent in2005(Saad,2009),and almost six in ten Americans(58per cent)are now wine buyers (Harris Interactive,2009).Clearly the consumers have gone through a process of becoming more socialid to wine over time(Oln et al.,2007).
Wine is an information-intensive experience product and by virtue of this the buying situation is often regarded as a complex one in which a high degree of associated risk is perceived(Bruwer et al.,2002;Lacey et al.,2009;Mueller et al.,2009).Wine is an experience product mainly becau the quality thereof cannot be assd until the product has actually been consumed(Barber et al.,2008;Barber et al., 2006;Chaney,2000;Jaeger et al.,2009).The nsory aspects, specifically the olfactory ones of wine are an integral part of the total product experience that consumers have when consumption takes place(Lee and Lee,2008).Not surprising,there have been a multitude of studies in this area in recent years in Australia(Saliba,Bullock and Hardie, 2009;Saliba,Wragg and Richardson,2009).
In determining reasons for differences in the nsory perception of wine,it ems from the anecdotal evidence that lifestyle has an impact.In the UK,rearch indicates that while women are the major purchars of wine,more women buy in supermarkets and more men in specialty wine shops (Ritchie,2009).The2008survey of the Wine Market Council
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
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q Emerald Group Publishing Limited[ISSN0736-3761]
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reports that56per cent of all wine consumers in the USA are women(Wine Market Council,2009).A Christy Frederick Marketing survey reports77per cent of women polled in the USA buy the wine for their houhold and buy it like the groceries,as a food item(Wenzel,2005).
Wine is a particularly complex beverage from both a chemical and nsory viewpoint(Thorngate,1997).It is therefore surprising that developing an understanding of how consumers relate their nsory preferences to the wines they actually end up buying is an area of rearch that has not been extensively navigated to date(Lesschaeve,2007).For example,it has been found that consumers had difficulty matching label nsory descriptions with corresponding wines(Charters et al.,2000), although the majority read back labels and therefore u it as a purcha choice factor(Bastian et al.,2005).
2.Literature framework
Certain products are perceived to be more gender-specific than others,meaning that individuals with stronger masculine or feminine identities tend to associate with them if they appeal to this aspect of their identity(Hall et al.,2001cited in Barber et al.2006).Spawton(1989,1990)went as far as to state that wine has been generally perceived as a“feminine”beverage.Atkin et al.(2007)suggest that a good starting point when evaluating how consumers make wine buying decisions may be to look at differences by gender.
It has also been suggested that the wine industry needs to know more about nsory preferences in wine drinking and, specifically,the difference in tastes of male and female consumers(Bruwer and Li,2007;Gelinard,2008;Lewis, 2004;Miller and Bruwer,2006;Saliba,Bullock and Hardie, 2009).In Australian studies it was found that gender differences in wine consumption are likely to be associated more strongly with volume(and perhaps)wine style and grape variety(Bruwer et al.2005;Bruwer,2007).A arch of the literature indicates that much of the discussion in thefield is bad on anecdotal evidence.This certainly has an important place when it comes from people with domain knowledge such as sommeliers, restaurateurs,bar staff and retailers,who are dealing with,and obrving,male and female wine consumers on a regular basis. Norris and Lee(2002)under
took rearch into nsory preferences.They ud blind tastings and preference mapping to develop a map of wines in a chon category with a determination of a nsory profile that was optimal for each of their rearch subjects,but did not isolate male and female preferences in their rearchfindings.However,they suggested that their techniques of determining nsory preferences could be ud to determine similarities and differences between wines and identify groups of consumers with similar likes and dislikes and could be a valuable tool in the winemaking and blending process.For the purpos of this study,such an approach has not been adopted becau of the context of the rearch(ten winery tasting rooms and difficulties of tting up blind tastings with a wide variety of wine styles)and becau the aim was to establish what consumers perceive as their preference,bad on their past experiences of wines they have consumed.Results are therefore relevant to wine marketers and rearchers eking to understand consumer preferences.
2.1Red versus white wine consumption by gender Market rearch by the American Wine Council(2000) indicates that56per cent of Chardonnay and47per cent of
Cabernet Sauvignon drinkers are female,which does not suggest very big differences(Schamberg,2002).In the UK, wine writer Jancis Robinson dismiss the notion of differences in gender preferences,stating women are far too big a group to generali about(Robinso
n,2004).However, UK statistics indicate a stronger preference for white wine among females,with34per cent of women preferring red wine and48per cent preferring white wine.The statistics also indicate that only younger and less experienced drinkers drank white wine exclusively(Low,2001).In Australia (Hoffman,2004)showed that females are more likely to drink white and sparkling wine than males.The studies apparently did not probe whether the trends have a relationship with the age group of the consumers.
agitated
2.2Sweet versus dry wine consumption by gender
There are divergent views on this aspect.Women are perhaps being stereotyped in terms of the common belief that young women prefer sweeter wines(Miller and Bruwer,2006).A study with a small sample of women with different levels of wine tastes in the Hunter Valley Region of Australia found that the majority of women were indeed more attracted to “softer,less structured,sweeter styles”(Lewis,2004).There were unfortunately no males in this study to compare results.
In the USA,the Beringer Wine Company has found sweet wine consumption spread evenly between men and women (Fuhrman,2001).In the UK,the assumed female preference for sweet wine is not supported by evidence as women buy most wine and most wine bought is dry in taste(Low,2001).
Clearly the jury is still out as regards the verdict to this potential rearch question.
2.3Physical reasons for gender differences in nsory
perception of wine
Women tend to be superior in the ns of taste and smell, with up to20per cent more ability to distinguish different smells than men,and they have a greater capacity to pick up subtleties in wine(Wenzel,2005).This is a repeated asrtion in the literature(for example,Atkin et al.,2007;Bruwer, 2007).Women’s palates tend to be more nsitive,which explains why many women prefer white wines with more subtle acidity and lower tannins and that manyfind tannin astringency and bitterness off-putting in red wine.They also pick up subtleties in white wine more often than men (Fuhrman,2001).Women have better smell ns than men and tend to have greater nsitivity to the complexities of wine.Men tend to go for massive reds and women for more delicate wines(Juergens,2005).
Fuhrman(2001)points to significant differences in wine styles in explaining physical differences in nsory preferences.White wines tend to have more subtle acidity and lower tannins.Red wines most often have quite high tannins.Red wine tannins prerve them and diminish with age,until they
become softer,and less astringent.Whether this leads to differences in nsory preferences in wine is a question that needs answering.
2.4Generational differences in wine taste preferences
Generational cohorts are one of the least understood marketing dynamics.Generational issues are however,only one element that marketers should include in planning their marketing strategies(Higgins,1998).In recent times,wine marketers have also started to take a generational view of the 6
wine market.The belief is now widely held that for the world wine market to grow,more young drinkers must be introduced to wine during the critical years in their late teens to early-to mid-20s,during which they form consumption habits for life(Bruwer,2002,2004).In fact, Murphy(1999)asrted that most people in the USA have established their drinking preferences by the age of40years. Generally consumers’wine consumption increas with age peaking during the midlife stages before declining(Batt and Dean,2000)and incread lf-confidence with this product plays a role in this process(Veale,2008).It is therefore for the purpo of discussion prudent to generically refer to the young wine consumer group as largely occasional wine drinkers(Allen,2002).
Not surprising,but quite short-sighted,the wine industry has heavily relied on and focud most of its marketing efforts on the affluent Baby Boomer generation.It has now begun to take notice of the purchasing power of Generation X and Millennials in particular(Wright, 2006),with Generation Y not too far behind either. Generation Y consumers(18-26years old)are typically the children of the now affluent Baby Boomer generation and prent an increasing market for alcoholic beverages with wine in particular benefiting from the fact that it is viewed by them as“fashionable”and reflecting a“sophisticated”image (Euromonitor,2007).
From a nsory perspective,the taste of wine is the most important factor in determining why people do or do not drink wine(Keown and Cay,1995;Thompson and Vourvachis,1995).Not surprising,a study by Charters and Pettigrew(2007)found that the foremost determinant of wine quality is that it tastes good while a study in the USA on Millennials confirmed that liking the taste of wine is the main reason why they drink wine,while converly not liking the taste was by far the most important reason why they do not drink wine(Thach and Oln,2006).Batt and Dean(2000) reported similarfindings in Australia albeit across all age groups.Even when linked to a specific consumption situation such as consuming wine in a restaurant with food,taste is the primary reason why consumers lect a specific wine(Hall et al.,2001;Jaeger et al.,2010).It therefore appears that ample justification exists to explore the taste aspect further, which is what we attempted to do in this study.
2.5Social basis for differences and trends in wine taste preferences
Depending on the buying(and consumption)situation a multitude of tangible product,nsory and even atmospheric cues impact on the wine consumer in various ways.Whereas wine is sold in the retail off-premi ctor largely on the basis of its tangible product cues such as brand name,bottle shape and size,label design and information,grape variety,price, etc.,there is none or at best very little opportunity for consumers to engage with the experience aspect of this product.The situation in the on-premi ctor within which wine is actually consumed in situ is no better in that most wine is ordered from restaurant wine lists that often contain minimal information and there are even fewer informational cues at the disposal of the consumer than is normally the ca in the off-premi ctor.In fact Ritchie(2009,p.195) contended that“it is psychologically easier to buy wine in an off-trade situation rather than in an on-trade environment.”Furthermore,in the on-premi tting,food often dictates the wine choice in a restaurant(Schamberg,2002).
As wine becomes a lifestyle beverage,women have become the majority buyers and decision makers:In an Australian study on wine consumption and houhold income,females reported a higher incidence of being the decision maker in wine purchasing(Bruwer et al.,2005).In the USA,according to rearch for the Wine Market Council,women account for 60per cent of“high end”
wine buyers;that is,they match two of the three following criteria-they purcha wine costing more than US$15occasionally to frequently,have more than 12bottles on hand at home,and would buy a wine costing more than US$15for a casual meal at home.
A California study reports that women drink more wine at
restaurants,as cocktails and on celebratory occasions than men(Sbrocco,2003).Australian rearch suggests a slightly different pattern of wine consumption in so far as males reported slightly higher wine consumption than females, peaking with increasing age,with males35þyears old showing the highest level(Bruwer et al.,2005).However,as with the Californian study,this study found that females reported a higher percentage of wine consumption in restaurants.They also noted females across both their sample groups bought more expensive wine than males.In terms of income,more females than males in the sample earned an income in the highest of three categories.There was also anecdotal evidence that females spend more overall on wine(Bruwer et al.,2005).Women today have a higher disposable income to support their increasing wine involvement.Bruwer(2002)notes that the majority of Generation X tasting room visitors are female,highly educated,relevantly affluent and drinking a high volume of wine.
In determining reasons for differences in nsory perception of wine,it ems from the anecdotal evidence that lifestyle has an impact.In the UK,rearch indicates that while women are the major purchars of wine,more women buy in supermarkets and more men in specialty wine shops(Low, 2001).In the USA,70per cent of women buy the wine for their houhold and buy it like the groceries,as a food item (Wenzel,2005).While this may hold true for homemakers, Bruwer et al.(2005)in an Australian study found particularly among the young female group,that women were more influenced by wine writers in newspapers and magazines, retail staff and attendance at wine festivals than their male counterparts,although their strongest influence on wine purcha was friends and family.While the above provide some perspectives,they are far from conclusive.It therefore appears that the place where consumers buy their wine and the factors that influence them to buy it in that buying situation require further investigation and this is something that this study attempts to do.
Dee Blackstock,UK Master of Wine and wine buyer,notes more similarities than differences between the genders in nsory preferences and suggests differences are about wine knowledge,not gender.However,she points out that traditionally women have not been judged on their wine knowledge,whereas it has been part of“being a man”to know about traditional wine and make choice
s when dining out and entertaining and believes as roles become blurred, differences that exist will decrea(Low,2001).
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2.6Evidence of wine companies catering to gender differences
Attempts by wine companies,in Australia and abroad,to cater for nsory differences between genders,suggest that the issue is significant to the wine marketingfield.Although the industry is in general emingly not yet convinced that male and female wine palates are different enough to warrant a focus on special products(Lewis,2004),some individual wine companies have targeted females directly though.Wine products such as Constellation’s Annabella and Fosters Australia’s Pink and Pink Jewel,Beringer’s White Lie made for the USA market,and Germany’s Bend on the River are but a few examples(Bruwer,2002;Bruwer et al.,2005). Much of the promotional efforts of the companies producing the wines have notably been about packaging to appeal to female wine drinkers and providing sweeter,lighter-styled and lower alcohol wines.
Women’s role as purchars of wine is often misunderstood and under-leveraged;specific gender-vending is therefore an important wine marketing issue(Sbrocco,2003).Lewis (2004)suggests that“alhovercraft
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most every time the male-dominated wine industry has come up with a product to woo the female palate it hasflopped”,citing the Hardy’s Wicked Wines range, launched in2000,as a prime example.Sbrocco(2003)in the USA found veral large and small companies are now marketing specifically to women,not with frilly labels,sweet wine or colour,but in how wine is integrated into lifestyle as an everyday beverage.
2.7Gaps in the knowledge ba
Despite views being divided,most of the anecdotal evidence found in the literature did not strongly support the notions that women prefer white and sweet wine more and that men prefer red wine more than women.There is evidence that social change may have contributed to a diminishing of differences,becau in recent years,as wine has become a lifestyle product,more people are drinking it and consumption is proportionally higher for women.As it has become a lifestyle product,women have become the majority buyers of wine,matching wine with the food they prepare. Social change has also provided women with more disposable income and more opportunities to engage with a range of wine styles.Anecdotal evidence was also found in the literature for differences in physical nsory perception of wine between men and women and chemical differences in wine styles which affected people differently.
Although some rearchers have pointed to the need,there remains a lack of specific rearch on gender differences in the consumer behaviour dynamics and nsory perception of wine drinkers.Attempts by wine companies,in Australia and abroad,to cater for nsory differences between genders, suggest that the issue is significant to the wine marketingfield. Atkin et al(2007)suggested that when attempting to determine the reasons behind wine drinkers’choices demographic and lifecycle variables should be ud and that a good starting point is gender,specifically.This study has adopted this premi in its investigative methodology and broadened the scope to include the age generation aspect.
3.Rearch methodology
3.1Rearch questions
The main rearch question is whether there are significant differences between male and female wine consumer behaviour and nsory preferences and if so,what is the nature of the differences?The other related questions to which this rearch sought answers are:
.Do more women prefer white wine to red than men?
javdog com.Do women prefer sweeter wine than men?
.Do women prefer lighter wine styles than men?
.Have differences changed over time and therefore are there significant differences between age groups of the
same gender?
.Does early experience of wine play a role in the differences,should they exist?
.What are the differences between gender and age groups in terms of the distribution outlet types where they buy
their wine from?
备忘录英文.What are the main influencing factors in consumers’wine buying decisions?
3.2Hypothes
The following six hypothes were formulated to answer the rearch questions:
H1.Wine volume consumption and monthly spend of males are higher than that of females,also acro
ss age
groups.
H2.Females are more likely than males to be influenced in their wine buying by their significant others
(spou/partner and family),their friends and the
social occasion and the choice of food to match wine
is the single most important wine buying choice
factor across all the age and gender groups.
H3.More females than males prefer white to red wine.
我想见你 英文
H4.More females than males prefer sweet wine to dry wine.
H5.More females than males prefer lighter body styles of wine.
H6.The differences in preferences between males and females are diminishing as opportunities for
experiencing wine are increasing,therefore younger
age groups will exhibit less differences.
3.3Rearch design
The primary data collection instrument was a questionnaire and was bad on the rearch questions arising from the literature review.Several of the original questions were changed to clod questions to improve the efficiency of the questionnaire design.Only four questions were left as open-ended questions,with the objective of determining how consumers convey feelings and perceptions about the wine they drink.Additional questions on demographics,lifestyle and behaviour were incorporated to u the rearch opportunity to further inform knowledge in thefield and to be able to contrast and compare with other studies in the field.
Thefinal questionnaire had a total30questions of which most were clo-ended.Respondents answered questionnaires infive to eight minutes on average.Rearchers have pointed to the difficulties of differences of language in describing nsory perception of wine between a wide range of consumers and winemakers(Bruwer et al.,2005;Norris and 8bcos
Lee,2002)so the language of the questionnaire was in terms that were readily recognisable to low and medium wine knowledge consumers.
The sampling frame was ten tasting rooms on recognid wine routes within the Y arra Valley Wine Region in Australia. The questionnaires were distributed to the tasting rooms where data collection took place during a six-week period. The tasting rooms were chon for their proximity to major wine routes and to reflect a broad range of sizes of winery/ tasting room business to obtain as wide as possible a range of visitors.Sample control factors that contributed to the quality of the data collected,included that all respondents were regular wine drinkers,consuming wine at least once a month with95per cent consuming it at least once a week. Furthermore,82per cent were the main buyers of wine for their houholds meaning that there was a high likelihood that had a very good understanding of various aspects of wine buying and consumption.
The questionnaire was left,usually on the counter or near to it,at each tasting room,next to a marked box with slot. The box was labelled and the purpo of the questionnaire, suggested time needed to complete the questionnaire(five to ten minutes)and assured confidentiality explained.This information was repeated at the top of each questionnaire.
3.4Rearch limitations
.The rearch was conducted at ten tasting rooms in the Y arra Valley wine region in Australia and was limited to tasting room visitors to the Y arra Valley,tasting rooms open ven days per week and did not include all tasting rooms in the Y arra Valley in that category.
.Candidates in the study were wine drinkers(above18
cakes什么意思years old),who consume wine on a relatively regular basis. .Thefinal sample size is relatively small(150respondents).
The rearchers distributed300questionnaires and only 187(62per cent respon rate)were completed.Of the 37were incomplete or incorrectlyfilled in to the extent that they were not uful for the purpo of the rearch and were not ud in the study.
.The respondents whofilled in questionnaires do not necessarily reflect a cross ction of tasting room visitors.
The questionnaire is long and involves some risk taking (diminished by anonymity)and requires some time and effort to complete(five to eight minutes).It is not unreasonable to suggest it may have been more attractive to the more confident or wine involved drinker than the casual wine drinker.
4.Results and discussion
4.1Demographics
The demographic characteristics of the consumers rve as the basis for the further data analysis and testing of the hypothes(T able I).The age group distribution of the sample confirms earlier work by Bruwer(2004),in which he found that the Millennial and Generation-X age groups are highly active and prominent as tasting room visitors in Australia.T able I shows that50per cent of the sample were between18-34years old,thus reprenting the Millennial generation group.While the gender split was almost equal, there were more Millennial females(56per cent)than males (45per cent).The educational status of the total sample was high,with77per cent in posssion of a tertiary qualification.
Houhold size was generally small with on average less than three persons per houhold.This is not surprising,given their high SES(socio-economic characteristics)and high level of mobility due to few children living in the houhold.Most adults in the houhold(mean¼2:20persons)consume wine.From this it can be deduced,although not confirmed, that if one spousal partner drinks wine the other one in the houhold is also likely to do so.The houhold income levels are weighted heavily t
o the middle and upper levels and are functions of the relatively high education and occupational levels and small houhold membership size.
4.2Wine consumption dynamics
Distribution outlet categories for wine buying
The study explored whether any relationships exist between the volume of wine purchad from each outlet category and gender and/or age generation groups(T able II).No significant difference in distribution outlet category usage between males and females could be found.
The test statistics show significant differences(one-way ANOVA test,0.05level)between Millennials and Generation-X,Baby Boomer and older consumers for buying wine in restaurants,bars/pubs,mail order/wine club and internet direct online.It is insightful that the generations show no differences as far as wine buying from the mainstream distribution outlet categories is concerned(large chain stores,specialty shops,supermarkets and winery tasting rooms).The fact that the Millennials buy significantly more wine than older consumers from restaurants and bars/pubs, could well be becau they are more mobile as a result of them Table I Demographic characteristics of the wine consumers
Male Female Total Characteristic(%)(%)(%) Gender52.048.0100.0 Age group(years)
研究生报名及考试时间
18-2411.513.912.7 25-2810.318.114.0 29-3423.123.623.3 35-40 5.115.310.0 41-459.0 6.98.0 46-5415.49.712.7 55-6523.111.117.3 651 2.5 1.4 2.0 Education level
No tertiary qualification23.123.623.4 Undergraduate tertiary qualification43.641.742.6 Postgraduate tertiary qualification33.334.734.0 Annual houhold income level(AUS$)
<50,0009.013.911.4 50,000-100,00043.547.345.2 100,001-200,00037.231.934.7 200,000110.3 6.98.7 Number of persons in houhold a
Persons under18years old0.510.380.45 Persons18years and older 2.23 2.18 2.27 Persons$18years old who drink wine 2.18 2.22 2.20 Note:a Values are means
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