Subjective knowledge, product attributes and consideration set: a wine application

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that consumers' expertise of a product influences the number of attributes considered as important, the importance given to the attributes as well as the size and the content of the consideration set (CS). Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative empirical study was carried out with 287 French wine consumers. Findings – The results show that the attributes which were considered as important by the novices differ from those considered important by the experts and that the number of important attributes given by the novices (2) is lower than those given by the experts (7). Furthermore, the results show that the size of the CS itself is also influenced by subjective knowledge. On the other hand, this is not the case for the content of the CS. Research limitations/implications – The empirical study only focuses on one product category. The data were collected on the basis of statements rather than observations, which is liable to distort the results. Practical implications – The paper shows that the visual attributes, such as the design and the packaging, are not sufficient to sell wine to French consumers, even if they are novices in this field. Originality/value – While most research devoted to the effects of the CS focus on a single dimension of it, this paper tests simultaneously the effects on the size and on the variety of the CS, which is analyzed according to both a qualitative and quantitative approach.