Browsing by Subject "choosing wine"

In this study, I examine how consumers choose wine. The research questions are as follows 1. What factors in general affect wine buying? 2. What factors influence choosing wine in the store environment? 3. What is the significance of responsibly consuming in choosing wine? The research background consists of research on wine-making, its environmental impact, as well as wine-labelling. This framework also includes the wine choosing- and consumer behaviorism theories. Previous research has shown that wine choosing is affected by price, country of origin, taste descriptions, as well as the labelling. The data consists of seven research subjects, of whom five were women and two men. The subjects were between 29-70 years of age, six subjects lived in the Helsinki metropolitan area and one in central Finland. The data were collected with the thinking aloud protocol, in which the subjects report their wine selection process by speaking aloud. All the wine selecting was done in the Alko store environment. The recorded data was transcribed, after which it was structured with content analysis to fit the research questions. The analysis highlighted the researcher's abductive reasoning, where the collected data and the theoretical framework alternated to answer the research questions. My research shows that wine consumption is social: it is consumed in everyday life, as a socializing drink, and in combination with food. The main wine selection factor is time. When there is little time the subjects either chose a familiar product, or ended up impulsively for a colorfully labelled product. With more time, the subjects spent more time on comparing products. Independent comparisons made in the selection process were aided by the Alko product information cards. They contain information about the price, flavor descriptions, as well as taste type classifications and food symbols. Alko customer service is valued and needed especially if you're looking for wines to pair with food. Sustainability and ecology did not largely influence wine selection. Except for organic wines, the subjects had incomplete knowledge in different wine growing methods and the associated labelling. In general, it can be stated that the less the consumer had knowledge of the label entries, the more frustrated they were, when there were several entries. All the subjects were, however, interested to know more of the entries. It seems that the information given by the Alko information cards and customer service, affect the customers attitude towards the different entries.