Motivational factors of gender, income and age on selecting a bottle of wine

Purpose To explore the attributes of wine packaging that are enticing to consumers and the influence of age, gender and income on the wine‐buying decision. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate how wine packaging interplays with age, gender and income to influence consumers’ decision to purchase. A self‐administered questionnaire with closed‐ended and five‐point Likert‐type scale questions was conducted in the State of Connecticut at two retail shops and five wineries. The questionnaire was pilot‐tested at a local retail wine store in Connecticut to ensure reliability and clarity of the questions. Findings Results showed that label design and bottle closures were important to respondents and that self‐confidence was a significant factor for age and gender, with females and respondents between 31 and 40 years of age more concerned about making a wine‐buying decision. Research limitations/implications The selection of the state of Connecticut and the testing sites may not represent the general US wine consumer, and therefore results may not be generalizable. Future research projects could include: comparing label configurations and bottle‐packaging choices with the situational use and sensory testing of wines to determine if the novice consumer can evaluate a wine characteristic such as “peachy” or “floral” as described on wine labels. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need by offering practical advice to wine producers on the necessity to understand what packaging characteristics or cues are important to consumers and to focus their marketing efforts towards simple wine packaging and label designs.