The Post‐visit Consumer Behaviour of New Zealand Winery Visitors

Abstract

Visitation to wineries has often been cited as an important way in which a winery can establish and/or reinforce loyalty amongst its consumers. However, to date few studies have explored the consumer behaviour of winery visitors beyond the cellar door. A study by King and Morris (n.d.) concluded that just 13% of visitors to Margaret River wineries made a purchase of wine from the winery of survey in the 18 months following their visit. In contrast, this paper reports that more than 46% of visitors to New Zealand wineries made a post visit purchase in a period of just six to eight months following their visit. This paper presents some of the results of the second phase of a two-phase tracking survey of New Zealand winery visitors. The study found a higher propensity for brand loyalty was apparent amongst visitors to certain regions and to medium and large-sized wineries, domestic visitors, females, those with intermediate or advanced wine knowledge, those that drink wine more frequently and purchase more wine. More importantly however, it found brand loyal behaviour (post-visit purchase and repeat visitation) amongst repeat visitors to wineries and those that purchased wine during their visit. The study further found that there is a high degree of positive word of mouth (a by-product of brand loyalty) amongst all winery visitors.

Segmenting Wine Tourists on the Basis of Involvement with Wine

“…Involvement and wine knowledge have also been linked to differences in post-visit purchase behavior (Dodd & Gustafson, 1997;Mitchell & Hall, 2001a). Mitchell and Hall (2001b) support that the level of wine knowledge provides a significant basis for market segmentation in wine tourism, as it is linked with participation in wine club activities and cellar size while Mitchell and Hall (2004) found a higher propensity for brand loyalty amongst winery visitors with intermediate or advanced wine knowledge. Lockshin and Spawton (2001) were among the first to make a distinction between wine tourists according to their involvement level with wine.…”

“…Ultimately, it becomes an issue of strategic planning and positioning. Mitchell and Hall (2004) stress the importance of the cellar door experience, as the latter may influence purchase behavior and lead to brand loyalty and other positive effects, such as word of mouth creation. Based on this view, another targeting strategy for wineries could entail the use of the winery experience as a tool to increase interest among visitors of low and average involvement levels and transform them to more involved wine consumers and wine tourists.…”

Making a connection: tasting rooms and brand loyalty

“…Alant and Bruwer (2004) support this claim; in their study buying wine was the highest motivation for repeat visits to a winery, whilst first time visitors ranked this reason for visiting only fourth. Mitchell and Hall (2004) similarly report that repeat visitors to a winery are more likely to make a post-visit purchase off site (see also Bruwer, 2002). …”

“…Mitchell and Hall (2004) stress the opportunities for contact established during a tasting room visit to be extended to the reminiscence stage of the travel experience through the use of mail order or newsletters. Nowak and Newton (2006) highlight the fact that efforts to make the visitor feel special can be extended subsequently by emotion marketing through events, phone calls, emails and newsletters 'to give the customer a tremendous sense of belonging and camaraderie' (p.158).…”

“…Wine tourism researchers have explored a range of issues relating to the outcome of winery visitation in establishing ongoing relationships and brand loyalty. This has included examining the influence of attending a winery tasting room on post-visit wine purchasing (Mitchell and Hall, 2004, Mitchell, 2006, O'Mahony et al, 2006, with the importance of good service quality often cited as an important determinant of subsequent customer loyalty (Corkingdale andWelsh, 2003, O'Neill andCharters, 2000). To date, however, little research has explored the process by which brand loyalty is established during the tasting room encounter, or the perceptions and expectations of winery visitors regarding this process (O'Neill and Charters, 2006a).…”