Connecting product attributes with emotional benefits: Analysis of a Mediterranean product across consumer age segments

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to test whether the effects of wine consumption on the emotions vary with the age of the consumer, the objective being to use the results to orient further product differentiation in a highly saturated and competitive market.

Design/methodology/approach

The decision structures of various age groups of wine consumers were explored by means of laddering interviews, a technique drawn from means‐end chain theory, to reveal consumers' attribute‐consequence‐value chains.

Findings

The results reveal that wine consumers perceive an emotional benefit from drinking wine and that this varies with the age of the consumer. The degree of abstraction in the cognitive process involved in the perception of this benefit increases inversely with the age of the consumer. Older people report less complex decision‐making processes. In general terms, consumers drink wine for the sensory pleasure it gives, but younger drinkers are also motivated to drink it for reasons relating to cultural identity and social status, while older generations focus primarily on the potential of wine as a social catalyst.

Originality/value

This study offers the wine industry new alternatives to enhance information, communication and product differentiation campaigns.

Citation

Barrena, R. and Sanchez, M. (2009), "Connecting product attributes with emotional benefits: Analysis of a Mediterranean product across consumer age segments", British Food Journal, Vol. 111 No. 2, pp. 120-137. https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700910931959