Consumer involvement and associated behaviour in the UK high-end retail off-trade wine market

Abstract

This study identifies the importance of product attributes to wine consumers and associated consumer behavioural relationships to their involvement level with this product category. Data were collected in an independent specialist high-end wine retail store from UK consumers who had purchased and/or consumed wine within a period of one month leading up to the survey. In operationalising the research, a 13-item multidimensional wine involvement profile scale was developed that returned a Cronbach’s α of 0.884. High-involvement wine consumers do not place less importance on price than low-involved consumers, but they are less committed to specific brands. Brand name thus has greater importance in the wine-buying decisions of low-involvement consumers, particularly when it is for a special occasion. High-involvement consumers are significantly more inclined to use newspapers, magazines, the Internet and wine books as their sources of information on wine. Word-of-mouth, however, plays the most important role of all information sources for both low- and high-involvement wine consumers. Whereas males are more highly involved wine consumers than females, the main causal factor thereof is their higher income level. The findings of this study suggest overall that wine consumers’ behaviour varies depending on their involvement level with the wine product.