No abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to measure the product involvement of wine buyers and to examine relationships with anticipated consumption situations, places and occasions combined with the buyer’s importance of various extrinsic product attributes. Design/methodology/approach – A survey is conducted with 147 wine buyers using structured self-administered questionnaires in a central city retail location in Australia. Findings – There are no significant relationships between consumers’ involvement with wine products and what occasion or constellation of persons is anticipated when purchasing wine in a retail store. From a consumption situation perspective, both high- and low-involved buyers primarily anticipate consuming their wine together with other persons, mainly with food. High-involved wine consumers tend to consume their wine alone compared to low-involved consumers who are more likely to buy wine for other persons than for themselves. Regarding the product attributes that play an important role in retailing, this study finds that the importance of grape variety, the origin of the wine, the brand, the vintage, awards/medals and the product design increases with growing involvement in wine. The age of the buyer/consumer and the envisaged consumption occasion also affect the importance of various product attributes. We also find that wine buyers would spend on average over $15 more per unit when the wine is not bought for their personal consumption (e.g. gift). Originality/value – This study is of value to academic researchers, the wine industry in general and wine retailers in specific as it offers new insights on the role of product involvement and anticipated consumption situations when buying a product and their effects on the importance of product attributes.

Purpose Little research on the influence of external factors, such as weather and holiday periods, on retail sales on alcoholic beverages is available. This study aims to investigate how weekly retail sales of different alcoholic beverages vary in association with daily maximum temperatures and annual federal holidays across selected US counties in the years 2013 to 2015. The research provides information, which can contribute to better sales forecasts. Design/methodology/approach Secondary data of weekly retail sales (volume) of alcoholic beverages from 37,346 stores in 651 counties in the USA are analysed. The data cover on average 21% of all existing US counties and 12% of the total US off-trade retail sales of alcoholic beverages in the period studied (Euromonitor, 2017). Additional data of federal holidays and meteorological data are collated for each county in the sample. Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average models with exogenous regressors (SARIMAX) are applied to develop forecasting models and to investigate possible relationships and effects. Findings The results indicate that off-trade retail sales of beer, liquor, red and white wine are temperature sensitive throughout the year, while contrary to expectations rosé, sparkling and other wines are not. Sales sensitivities to temperature also differ by geography. In the warmest regions, liquor and white wine sales do not respond to temperature changes, as opposed to the coolest regions, where they are responsive. Public holidays, particularly Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays, represent a constant influencing factor on short-term sales increases for all investigated alcoholic beverage categories. Originality/value This is the first large-scale study of weather and holiday-related sales variations over time, across geographies and different alcoholic beverage categories. Seasonal and non-seasonal short-term sales variations are important for retailers and manufacturers alike. Accounting for expected changes in demand accommodates efficiencies along the supply chain and has implications for retail management, as well as adjusting marketing efforts in competing categories.

No abstract

No abstract