Wine purchasing: Planned or unplanned behaviour

Abstract

This exploratory research examines the planned and unplanned wine purchasing behaviour of consumers across four nations and identifies the factors that influence whether wine is a planned or unplanned purchase. A structured questionnaire and intercept interview technique were used to obtain information from 399 respondents inside supermarkets, liquor stores and specialty wine stores in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The findings reveal that a majority of consumers do plan to purchase wine before they enter a store. Discounted prices and bottle or label designs were more important to those consumers who made unplanned wine purchases. Factors such as wine knowledge, wine involvement and various demographic characteristics were found to have no significant influence on the proportion of planned to unplanned wine purchasing behaviour. This research suggests to marketers that discount pricing is a strategy that can lead consumers to making unplanned wine purchase decisions.