The Effect of Customer Gender and Culture on Wine Consumption in China and Europe (Dissertation Sample)

The Effect of Customer Gender and Culture on Wine Consumption in China and Europe
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l "_Toc427431814" 1.Chapter One: PAGEREF _Toc427431814 \h 41.1.Background PAGEREF _Toc427431815 \h 41.2.Research Objectives PAGEREF _Toc427431816 \h 61.3.Research Significance and Rationale PAGEREF _Toc427431817 \h 71.4.Scope and Limitations of the Research PAGEREF _Toc427431818 \h 71.5.Organization of the Research PAGEREF _Toc427431819 \h 82.Chapter Two: Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc427431820 \h 102.1.An Overview of the Global Wine Industry PAGEREF _Toc427431821 \h 102.2.Gender Differences and Wine Consumption PAGEREF _Toc427431822 \h 102.3.International Differences in Wine Consumption PAGEREF _Toc427431823 \h 112.4.Consumer Behavior in the Wine Industry PAGEREF _Toc427431824 \h 122.5.The Effects of Consumer Gender and Culture on Wine Consumption in United States, Australia, and Europe PAGEREF _Toc427431825 \h 132.6.The Effect of Culture on Wine Quality Perceptions PAGEREF _Toc427431826 \h 183Chapter 3: Methodology PAGEREF _Toc427431827 \h 193.1Introduction PAGEREF _Toc427431828 \h 193.2Research Philosophy & Approach PAGEREF _Toc427431829 \h 193.3Research Design & Strategy PAGEREF _Toc427431830 \h 203.4Research population and sampling PAGEREF _Toc427431831 \h 213.5Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc427431832 \h 223.6Data Analysis PAGEREF _Toc427431833 \h 233.7Ethical Considerations PAGEREF _Toc427431834 \h 244Chapter Four: Analysis and Findings PAGEREF _Toc427431835 \h 254.1Demographic Profile of Survey Respondents PAGEREF _Toc427431836 \h 254.1.1Demographic Profile: Ethnicity/Race and Gender PAGEREF _Toc427431837 \h 254.1.2Demographic Profile: Ethnicity/Race and Age Group PAGEREF _Toc427431838 \h 284.1.3Demographic Profile: Ethnicity/Race and Education PAGEREF _Toc427431839 \h 304.1.4Demographic Profile: Ethnicity/Race and Employment Information PAGEREF _Toc427431840 \h 324.1.5Demographic Profile: Ethnicity/Race and Annual Income in USD PAGEREF _Toc427431841 \h 344.2Data Presentation and Analysis Regarding Research Objective 1 PAGEREF _Toc427431842 \h 365References PAGEREF _Toc427431843 \h 66
1 Chapter One:
1 Background
Historically wine has been consumed with food; however, this is slowly changing with individuals choosing to patronize nightclubs and bars to drink wine. This has become a common trend throughout the developed countries, especially Europe, United States and Australia. According to Olsen (2008) wine consumption in the United States was in continued ascension in 2007 where it experienced a 6.8% increase. Statistics by the Wine Institute on consumption of wine in the United States reveals that wine consumption has continued the ascension reaching 2.82 gallons per individual in 2013 from 2.46 gallons per individual in 2007. Chikritzhs et al (2010) also found that there was an increase in alcohol consumption in Australia for the period 1990-2009.
It is imperative to observe that a number of factors have influence the consumption of wine among them consumers knowledge of wine, health benefits, cultural differences, gender and prices. According to James and Christodoulidou (2011), the perceived health benefits of wine consumptions influenced increased wine consumption among the Americans. Tjonneland et al (1999) research on Danish men and women diet found that individuals that consumption of healthy food was associated with high intake of wine. This implies that individuals that are more health conscious are more likely to consume wine that those who are not health conscious.
Research indicates that moderate drinking of red wine can be beneficial to individuals, especially middle aged men. According to Szmitko and Verma (2005), epidemiological and experimental biological studies have shown that components in the red wine affect the accumulation of fatty plaques in the coronary arteries. Guilford and Pezzuto (2011) also observed that wine can protect individuals from cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, neurological disorders and type-2 diabetes.
This has led to the media promoting moderate consumption of red wine as a healthy habit that can protect individuals from chronic health conditions. The media attention to the health benefits associated to wine consumption has increased people’s knowledge of the benefits of consuming wine rather than other beverages. Hussain, Cholette and Castaldi (2007) found that consumers’ knowledge of wine is one of the most important determinants of wine consumption. This implies that consumers with a wealth of knowledge of wine are likely to consume more wine than those with little or no knowledge of wine.
It is important to observe that consumers interest and knowledge in wine also increases the amount of wine they consume. As a result, the red wine has become one of the most popular drinks across the globe making its production and consumption a global business. According to Olsen (2008), young adults, especially the millennial generation, are consuming wine at a relatively earlier age in comparison to the previous generations. It has become a common practice for young adults to choose wine over spirits and beer.
The wine market can be segmented in a number of ways including age and gender. This paper will focus on gender segmentation as men and women have different wine consumption trends. According to Forbes, Cohen and Dean (2010), gender acts as an important predictor of consumer behavior hence its use in market segmentation. They also observed that some researchers have found that women are making most of the wine purchases in both the UK and US markets as part of their routine shopping. Bruwer et al (2005) found that Australian women buy more expensive wines in comparison to men in addition to spending significantly higher proportion of their income on wine in comparison to the male counterparts.
However, Wolf (2000) found that gender has no influence on whether consumers are light or heavy spenders. However, a number of factors affect wine consumption among both male and female consumers. These factors have led to different red wine consumption pattern between men and women. Wolf (2000) observed that more women than men were consuming wine in the European market. On the other hand, more men than women were consuming wine in France.
Cultural background is another important factor that influences wine consumption among both men and women in different regions. Hall, Shaw and Doole (1997) undertook a research to determine the factors that influenced consumption of Australian wine in external markets and identified cultural background as an important factor that influenced market segmentation of different markets. It is imperative to observe that cultural background influences how wine is consumed in a given region and the overall consumption. According to Trevisan et al (2011), there are significant differences in how alcoholic drinks are consumed in the Italian and American cultures. As a result, beer and spirits are usually consumed in the American context while wine is often consumed in the Italian context, which explains why Italians are the top consumers of wine. Although other factors also affect wine consumption, this research will focus on gender and cultural differences among consumers in the three markets to explore wine consumption differences in these markets.
2 Research Objectives
The main purpose of this research was to determine the effects that gender differences and cultural differences between red wine consumers has on the consumption of red wine in Australia, United States and Europe. In order to accomplish this purpose, the research also had to meet the following objectives:
* To determine the differences in wine buying behavior between female and male customers in the Europe and China markets.
* To determine the effects different cultures in these markets has on wine consumption in China and Europe
* To determine the differences in wine consumption trends in the three markets
3 Research Significance and Rationale
The importance of this research to both wine regulators and red wine producers and marketers cannot be underestimated. As observed above, red wine consumption and production has become a global affair given the rise in demand for the product. As a result, it is imperative for the red wine marketers and producers to understand how culture and gender differences in different countries affect the consumption of their products. The producers and marketers need to understand the effect preferences, tastes, promotion, price and income level have on both female and male consumers purchase of red wine. This will allow them to segment their market and produce products that target specific markets in order to increase their revenue. This will also increase customer satisfaction and loyalty since most, if not all, customer needs will be met. Regulators ought to understand how these two factors affect wine consumption in order to understand how they can encourage or discourage its consumption within their jurisdictions.
4 Scope and Limitations of the Research
This research was limited to red wine consumption in Australia, Europe and United States, which are the key red wine markets across the globe. As a result, the researcher only considered the red wine products sold in these countries and customers in these countries as well. The researcher also focused on both female and male red wine consumers in these countries. There were a number of limitations that affected the researchers’ ability to undertake a conclusive research on the topic. First, the researcher did not have access to sufficient resources and time to include all the consumers in the research. Therefore, the researcher was forced to undertake the re...