Wine, family businesses and web: marketing strategies to compete effectively

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deepen the web marketing strategies used by wine family businesses (FBs) with the aim to identify the role assigned to websites, the online models and the competitive strategies implemented through them. Design/methodology/approach In order to examine the content and structure of the information found on the website of selected FBs, an ad hoc analysis model was designed and validated with the support of marketing and industry experts through an inspecting focus group (Mich, 2007). Findings The subsequent observation of the websites of the businesses studied showed that family-run Italian wineries use their websites mainly to present information about the business and as a relational tool through edutainment activities; FBs yet neglect the potential of e-commerce. Research limitations/implications The study highlights the importance and the attention that FBs, among others, should dedicate to the role of web communications within their communications strategy. Although this path has allowed the traits essential to launch effective online communications for FBs, the small number of businesses surveyed (ten) does not permit a theoretical generalisation of the results. Thus, we expect to integrate the information obtained from this preliminary study with in-depth interviews with the digital strategists for the companies examined or by increasing the number of FBs studied. Originality/value The paper provides an evaluation model to effectively organise the websites’ contents; wine businesses should consider and customise these essential elements with the brand’s specific details.

Family businesses, corporate social responsibility, and websites

“…If we consider notion of terroir (in the broad sense) to be important (Iaia et al, 2017;Contò et al, 2014), then the CSR approach is even more significant in the wine sector because of the crucial role represented by the territorial dimension and the critical and responsible behavior of the consumer (Nazzaro et al, 2016). The same strict bond with territory is associated with family businesses, which play an important role in the wine industry (Iaia et al, 2017;Vrontis et al, 2016).…”

“…In fact, from the point of view of wine companies, talking about social commitment means discussing a complex concept (Pellicelli et al, 2016;Ohmart, 2009) that affects all the management activities of the company and affects competitors as well as local communities. Furthermore, if we consider that the wine industry has deep roots in the land in which it operates, reflecting in a broad sense the terroir notion (Iaia et al, 2017;Arfini et al, 2010), the CSR approach is significant in the wine sector because of the crucial role represented by the The sample consists of companies dedicated to CSRlarge and medium companies (Campopiano and De Massis, 2015;Young and Marais, 2011) that possess a significant number of stakeholders who need information and which have greater impact on society. Another contribution of this investigation is the methodology used: although Italian companies have already been investigated using the case study approach, in our case the content analysis did not employ just the CSR webpages and reports, but rather extracted the material for CSR analysis directly from the "Who we are" and "History," sections, as in the wine sector, the business's corporate reputation (the "output" of the CSR strategy implementation) is directly connected with the business's history (Iannone, 2018).…”

Assessing the Effects of the Environment on Consumers’ Evaluations for Wine

“…Recently, companies operating in the agro-food industry have adopted business models related to environmental, economic and social sustainability (Schimmenti et al, 2016;Galati et al, 2019a). The wine industry has implemented initiatives aimed at both sustainability and changes in consumer behaviour, as purchasing decisions are increasingly influenced by environmental and social aspects, and at identifying web-marketing behavioural models (Galati et al, 2017;Iaia et al, 2017;Capitello et al, 2019). Consumers' willingness to pay for wine has increased for products that offer greater sustainability guarantees (Di Vita et al, 2019;Galati et al, 2019a).…”

Millennial generation preferences for rosé wine

“…The need to acquire useful information in purchasing decisions and in quantifying the willingness to spend is now favored by the presence of digital communication channels. Reputation is strongly influenced by social media channels, which act to aggregate opinions and orientations, and from which important aspects of the brand image can emerge (Cavallo et al , 2016; Iaia et al , 2017; Sogari et al , 2017; Galati et al , 2016, 2017).…”