An investigation using three approaches to understand the influence of extrinsic product cues on consumer behavior: An example of Australian wines

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the value of and differences between three approaches to measuring extrinsic product attribute influences on consumer acceptance of Australian wines. The approaches included three complimentary tasks: conjoint assessment of wine product concepts (derived from a free sorting task), liking ratings for commercial wine labels and a real-choice study where the same wine bottles were presented to the consumer to choose their preferred wine based on the label. Results from the conjoint assessment indicated that price and wine region were of greatest utility. Findings from the real choice task mirrored the rating of wine labels, indicating that respondents were consistent in their liking and choice behavior across the two tasks. The choice study facilitated the validation of the experimental findings and suggested that label liking is a strong predictor of choice behavior. Practical Applications: The study provides methodological guidelines for studying consumer responses to extrinsic product attributes. The labeling study provides important information for wine marketers and label designers that could be used to optimize the presentation of product information to meet consumers' acceptance.