Chapter 3: Research Gap, Design and Methodology
Research Gap and Questions
There are challenges that consumers encounter when presented with a variety of wine brands. In a normal situation, average wine buyers are often overwhelmed by the amount and diversity of options displayed on supermarket shelves. Similarly, the wine industry is a rapidly changing marketplace due to ever-shifting consumer tastes and preferences, as well as the need for safe and healthy products. In this literature review, most of the available sources addressing the factors affecting wine purchase mostly appeared to focus on each of the listed factors in isolation. This study aims to combine the identified cues and investigate if there are any correlations among the cues and identify the most and least influential factors that affect the purchase behaviour of non-wine educated consumers. A clear rank of the external cues from the most influential to the least influential in Hong Kong will help in making practical recommendations on how wine producers can boost their sales in the market. The identification of a clear preference of some cues over others will also stimulate research in other markets so as to identify the combination of external cues that wine producers should make more investments in. In that regard, the research questions that this study seeks to answer are:
- What is the relationship between the identified cues and the consumers’ wine purchasing behaviours (non-wine educated)?
- Which consumer perceptions influence the purchase of wine the most?
Primary objective
- To examine the perceptions of consumer wine purchase based on Brand Recognition, Country of Origin, Critic Scores and Wine Ratings Label/Packaging Design and Pricing.
- To identify the perceptions of the consumers towards the purchase of wine.
- To establish the relationship between the identified influential factors and purchasing behaviour of wine consumers in Hong Kong.
Research Philosophy
The investigation of the subject will be grounded on the expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) which is referred by many scholars as the best model for understanding post-purchase behaviour, consumer satisfaction, and service marketing. The theory was first developed by Oliver (1980) who argued that the purchase intentions of customers are largely intertwined with satisfaction, an attribute that was acquired through expectation and perceived performance of the products. In the consumer behaviour literature, anticipations are conceptualized as predictions or beliefs about products or brands having preferred attributes.
The adaptation level theory support the tenet of ECT by stating, “human beings perceive stimuli relative to or as a deviation from an adapted level or baseline stimulus level” (Diddi, 2014). The psychological traits of the persons experiencing the stimulus as well as the situation or the context influence the “adapted level.” Acceptance expectations play a critical part in the process of making purchase decisions. These anticipations mainly depend on the information obtained from external players, such as mass media or friends. From the proposed study, these sources are expected to impact on the perceptions of the consumers towards country of origin, brand recognition and label design. Other factors such as critic’s grades and winery marketing strategies also play a fundamental role in patronizing businesses and informing the consumers’ decisions (Diddi, 2014). The wine buyers are exposed to a vast pool of information regarding the label designs and brands which sway their purchasing options. Marketing has helped the wineries create a positive image of the product. The increasing technological advancements have made it difficult for companies to control the data that reaches the consumers. Therefore, buyers have been capacitated to form varied expectations towards the firms’ practices.
Research Design
Five experiments will be conducted for Brand Recognition, Country of Origin, Critic’s Grading, Label/Packaging Design and Pricing.
These five factors are the independent variables.
Brand perceptions and attitudes are the dependent variables.
Research Methodology
This is an experimental study aiming at testing and examining the perceptions of wine purchase among the non-wine educated consumers. A mixture of Quantitative and Qualitative research methods is applied. The samples utilize those elements varied in levels of relationship for testing in the major experiment. The participants of the experiment are non-wine educated people who purchase and consume wine on a regular basis. This study anticipated to collect 20-30 participants for each experimental condition.
Data collection is conducted during a twelve-week period via experiments setting with systematic approach of randomly selecting 20-30 persons for each experimental condition, who did not have any wine knowledge education, across Hong Kong. The population is limited to wine buyers of legal drinking age (18+) purchasing wine in Hong Kong and the selection of locations is a mixture of randomly draw districts based on average mean of income across Hong Kong districts.
Data is analysed with the SPSS Statistical Package. Descriptive statistics is used to summarize the purchase preferences of the respondents. After that, a series of t-tests and multiple regressions will be performed to compare data from respondents of different gender, age and education levels.
