Consumers’ wine preferences in a changing scenario

Abstract

Purpose: Important socioeconomic changes have been undergone due to the international economic crisis. In Catalonia (Spain), political changes towards independentism also occurred within the same period. In our research we have explored the consumers’ wine preferences in Catalonia in two different scenarios. In particular, we have focused our interest in those preferences regarding the regional origin of the wine. Design/methodology/approach: Data was elicited from two identical Discrete Choice Experiments performed in two times: before (2008) and during the economic crisis (2010) in Catalonia, Spain. Findings: The results imply that the external common circumstances may have had a homogenising influence in consumer choices by decreasing the level of randomness of consumers’ selection. Consumers’ preferences for a Catalan origin were enhanced during the crisis, while price became the most important attribute. Research limitations: Ideally, the participants involved in both experiments would have been the same. Unfortunately, this was not possible to maintain and it is one of the limitations of this study. We are also aware that other non-controlled variables may have also played a role and the conclusions that are driven should be taken carefully. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the literature of the Discrete Choice Modelling (DCM) using the recently developed Generalised Multinomial Logit Model (GMNL). To our knowledge this is the first application in the literature of wine preferences to measure the impact of the contextual changes (economic and political) in Catalonia (Spain)