USA Mid-Atlantic Consumer Preferences for Front Label Attributes for Local Wine
Open Access
- 23 April 2021
- Vol. 7 (2), 22
- https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages7020022
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to investigate Mid-Atlantic USA wine consumers’ preferences for front wine label attributes for a lesser-known/unknown local wine variety. The wine consumer base in this part of the USA exceeds that of California. Although the mid-Atlantic is experiencing an increase in the number of wineries, there is a lack of region-specific consumer research that could be the basis for marketing strategies that may differ from those in more established wine regions, such as CA. We recruited 1011 mid-Atlantic consumers who drank wine (at least 1×/month) to view variations of a wine label, differing in wine tag, location description, font types, and images in a choice-based conjoint experiment. A greater percentage of consumers selected the “White Wine” tag and scripted fonts than the other options, with a generalized county text (“Proudly produced in Lehigh County, PA”) being selected by more participants than the American Viticultural Area (AVA) (“Lehigh Valley AVA”) or state (“Pennsylvania”) texts; however, the location text had a lower importance than the wine tag variable. This study implies that a generalized county text that describes a more specific location where the grapes were grown may be more favorable to mid-Atlantic consumers in comparison to AVA or state texts, and that traditional images and generic wine labels are more preferable than wine labels they have not seen before and more contemporary label styles. Wineries in the mid-Atlantic region may want to add generalized county texts to their labels to appeal to the regional audience. As AVAs are used to promote specific wine regions in the USA, and only some consumers choose wines based on these designations, governments and marketing organizations may want to increase education on local AVAs to increase consumer awareness and interest. In addition, consumer differences in variety-seeking behavior and subjective as well as objective wine knowledge, but not attitudes toward locally produced foods, affected wine label choice: Consumers scoring higher in variety-seeking and wine knowledge preferred the specific wine varietal over the generic wine tag; similarly, consumers that indicated familiarity with the wine varietal also preferred the specific wine tag over the generic label. Differences in consumer psychographics appear to modulate front wine label preferences.Keywords
Funding Information
- Pennsylvania Wine Marketing and Research Board and the PA Liquor Control Board (224959)
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (PEN04624 (accession number 1013412), PEN04599 (accession number 1008955))
This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
- Message on a bottle: the wine label's influenceInternational Journal of Wine Business Research, 2011
- AN INVESTIGATION USING THREE APPROACHES TO UNDERSTAND THE INFLUENCE OF EXTRINSIC PRODUCT CUES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: AN EXAMPLE OF AUSTRALIAN WINESJournal of Sensory Studies, 2010
- The relative influence of packaging, labelling, branding and sensory attributes on liking and purchase intent: Consumers differ in their responsivenessFood Quality and Preference, 2010
- Pride and prejudice in the evaluation of wine?International Journal of Wine Business Research, 2009
- Regional brand image and perceived wine quality: the consumer perspectiveInternational Journal of Wine Business Research, 2007
- Influence of purchase place and consumption frequency over quality wine preferencesFood Quality and Preference, 2006
- Using simulations from discrete choice experiments to measure consumer sensitivity to brand, region, price, and awards in wine choiceFood Quality and Preference, 2006
- The influence of the image of a product's region of origin on product evaluationJournal of Business Research, 2003
- The influence of consumption situation and product involvement over consumers’ use of product attributeJournal of Consumer Marketing, 1998
- Using product, brand and purchasing involvement for retail segmentationJournal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 1997