Melo L1, Cox DN1, Evans G1, Harrison A1,2, Chrea C2, Smyth S2, Delahunty C2, Forde C2

1) CSIRO Food Futures National Research Flagship, Human Nutrition, PO Box 10041, Adelaide BC, SA 5000,
2) CSIRO Food Futures National Research Flagship, Food Science Australia, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia

As part of a larger project (1), price utility data and “likelihood to purchase” were obtained as part of a group of participants’ judgements (n = 304) of the perceived quality of Australian red wine attributes grape variety, award, region, vintage, and typical cost. This approach differs from other conjoint studies which typically deal with overall product acceptance.

Participants were then divided into two price utility groups, the “positive” utility group (that rated the higher priced profiles as higher in quality) and the “negative” utility group. The most important attributes for the positive utility group (n=243) were price (35%) and region (24%), whereas for the negative utility group (n=61), region (31%) and vintage (23%) – suggesting that the two groups focus on different aspects of product profiles.

The profile and “likelihood to purchase” ratings for each of the price categories (low, medium and high) were analysed by group using a within subject MANOVA design. There was a significant profile rating by “likelihood to purchase” by utility group interaction (F(4, 1208) = 76.73; p < 0.001). Positive utility group tended to rate the profiles with the high price option as higher quality, whereas the negative group tended to rate the profiles with the low price option as higher. However, “likelihood to purchase” for the positive group indicated that although they rated high price option as higher quality, they indicated that they were more likely to purchase the medium price option. In contrast, the negative group clearly indicated that they would be more likely to purchase low price option than medium price option, and less likely to purchase high price option.

Results suggest that likelihood to purchase is, at least, not totally influenced by consumers perceived quality ratings.

References

1)  Wine and the Consumer

Keywords: Wine, conjoint, price utility, likelihood to purchase