Consumer attitudes towards local wines in an emerging region: a segmentation approach

Purpose – The current study is an initial attempt to segment the wine market in an emerging region and examine local residents’ attitudes towards local wines. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted using data collected from US households through a telephone survey. Consumer attitudes towards local wines were operationalized through assessment of local wines; recommendation of local wines to others; and rating of quality of local wines. The K‐ means clustering algorithm was applied to classify the respondents into clusters. Findings – The developing wine market was segmented into four clusters: “local enthusiasts”, “local detractors”, “local advocates” and “local non‐advocates”. Socio‐demographic and wine consumption profiles for each segment are developed. Of particular interest was the difference in recommendation behavior between two of groups of consumers with similar relatively high‐quality ratings and assessments of the local wines. Despite the similarity in attitudes, local advocates are willing to recommend the regional wines to other people, whereas non‐advocates would not recommend them. Practical implications – By better understanding how information is transferred from one person to the next will assist marketers in their efforts to establish new products or introduce new brands or regional wines. Originality/value – The market segmentation approach taken in this study is based on local residents’ attitudes towards local wines. The study sets the starting point in investigating new markets consumer characteristics and reasons for their behavior. Of particular interest for future research is consumer recommendation behavior.