Investigators: Prof. Johan Bruwer, Prof. Larry Lockshin, Prof. Anthony Saliba
The overall purpose of this research project is to develop a better understanding of wine consumers’ purchase and consumption patterns before, during, and as a direct consequence of their visits to wineries, with the cellar door being the hub of their experience. More specifically the project’s objectives are to determine:
Who the cellar door visitors are (socio-demographics), their wine consumption metrics, and relationship with the winery and region.
The nature and extent of the cellar door visitors’ buying behaviour at the cellar door and the likelihood of them buying the brand in future.
The relationship that cellar door visitors have had with the winery’s brand prior to visiting the cellar door.
The characteristics of the wine region as perceived by the cellar door visitors.
In the two follow-up surveys executed at two 3-monthly intervals after the initial cellar door visit stage, the project’s objectives are to:
Determine the effect of the cellar door visit on wine consumption in terms of regionality, type/style, and price/quality.
Track the incidence and extent of purchase (and repurchase) of the wineries’ wines at off-premise, on-premise and direct mode channels among a cohort of winery cellar door visitors.
Establish the nature of communication resulting from a cellar door visit, for example word-of-mouth, etc.
