AN ASSESSMENT OF WINERY TASTING ROOM MARKETING STRATEGIES BASED ON MID-ATLANTIC (NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, AND PENNSYLVANIA) CONSUMER SURVEYS
Open Access
- Author:
- Zelinskie, Jennifer Ludmila
- Graduate Program:
- Horticulture
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- April 28, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Dr. Kathy Kelley, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dr. Michela Centinari, Committee Member
Denise Michelle Gardner, Committee Member - Keywords:
- wine
wine marketing
mid-atlantic wine
new jersey wine
pennsylvania wine
new york wine
winery tasting room marketing
wine marketing strategies
wine consumer surveys - Abstract:
- This research was conducted to understand Mid-Atlantic wine consumers’ consumption and purchasing attitudes and behaviors, in order to assist winery owners and tasting room operators develop or enhance their marketing strategies. Majority, 71.8%, of participants purchased both “everyday” wines and wines served when entertaining and/or celebrating special occasions. More participants who drank wine at least once a week drank dry wines, while less frequent wine consumers favored sweeter wines. Sixty percent of participants felt somewhat informed about the locations/presence of tasting rooms in their state/local area and 14.0% felt well-informed. A majority (73.5%) who visited tasting rooms with a romantic partner were interested in a single set of samples that the couple could share. Those who visited with groups were interested in a fixed wine flight that would include the same wines and number of samples for each group member (72.9%). Availability of food would motivate participants to visit tasting rooms; light snacks available for purchase (e.g., cheese and crackers) at a winery tasting room and restaurants in the local area were important to participants (60.6% and 63.2%, respectively). The majority (87%) of participants used social media, email, and/or review sites at least once a month with most (94%) using Facebook, of which 64.5% used it to engage with and/or learn about winery tasting rooms. A quarter of survey participants (24.1%) indicated they had applications installed on their mobile device that they used to learn about wine and tasting rooms, with 68.2% interested in an app feature that helped them navigate to the tasting room (e.g., location service, directions, and/or map). Of the 42.1% of survey participants who had attended a wine festival in the past, pleasant weather (shade available if needed) was the positive aspect that was selected by the majority of these participants (60.7%). The negative aspect that was selected by the greatest percentage of festival attendees was crowded, long lines; however, only 33.7% of festival attendees selected this aspect. Barriers that prevented participants from not attending a festival in the past were: distance needed to travel to the festival (36.4%), price of admission (31.5%), and date and/or time the festival was held (27.4%).