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The purpose of this paper is to present seven mega-topics wine business researchers could collaborate on to help the global wine industry better cope with changes occurring across the world.

The first six of these topics emerged at a strategy planning session held in Australia in July 2019, and one more topic of concern was decided to be added that will help wine business researchers better model wine buying/wine tourism behaviour.

The seven topic areas are profitability and sustainability of different wine business models; interrelated risk and opportunities in the wine supply chain; how to stimulate innovation; managing growing social pressure and social license; building regional resilience and managing local growth; conducting research in emerging markets and how to measure the impact of marketing activities there; and accounting for infrequent and non-wine alcohol buyers in research.

Academics in wine business (and other areas) often pursue research of personal interest and convenience. However, this behaviour has often led to the accusation, particularly from industry, that this research does not really provide answers to the questions that really matter to industry. This viewpoint provides an industry-generated set of big picture research areas that have both academic and practical value.

The common market practice by global consumer brands to create localised packaging for foreign markets conflicts with findings that cast doubt on this strategy. By examining the differential influence of standard (Western) and local (Chinese) packaging on Chinese consumers’ perceptions and choice behaviour, this study aims to examine whether this strategy is effective or even necessary.

A pre-test first identified suitable products and brands. Using a multiple methods approach, online participants in China first rated the brands and packaging of hedonic and utilitarian products. The ratings were then validated by triangulating with the results of a discrete choice experiment that captured participants’ choice behaviour.

For hedonic products, standard packaging is rated more positively and chosen more often than local packaging. For utilitarian products, there are no differences in ratings and choice. For hedonic products, brand likeability is higher for standard packaging than for local packaging. For utilitarian products, brand likeability does not differ between the two packaging types.

These findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of indiscriminate packaging localisation. International marketers need to rethink their approach, particularly in non-Western markets. Interviews with five brand managers in charge of major consumer brands in China revealed their actual market practice and further illuminate this study’s findings.

This is first study to question the common market practice of packaging localisation and investigate the differential effects of standard versus local packaging of foreign products on consumers’ perceptions and choice behaviour.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between organizational systems, market orientation, family culture and the long-term business performance of family businesses in the wine sector in three countries.

A survey by questionnaire was undertaken with 123 wineries in Australia, Germany and Italy. Multiple-item measurement scales and multiple regression models were used to investigate mediation effects.

The findings indicate a marked influence of organizational systems and family culture on financial performance. Market orientation fully mediates the effect of family culture and partially mediates the effect of organizational systems on financial performance.

From a managerial perspective, this research indicates the central role of family culture when evaluating a firm’s capabilities and potential in the long term. The findings and their implications are of immediate concern for family firms in the wine sector.

For the first time, the antecedents of market orientation are investigated through simultaneous application of two key frameworks from marketing research and family business research in a single joint analysis.

Extending research on cultural differences in aesthetic appreciation, the purpose of this paper is to show how a more interdependent self-construal, a cultural and individual difference variable related to one’s social self, impacts the influence of visual harmony on consumer evaluations of marketing artifacts’ attractiveness.

Data were obtained via three studies from a total of 1,498 consumers in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, and Italy. Marketing visuals included the design of products, packages, typefaces, and logos. Self-construal was both measured and manipulated.

The results indicate that a person’s self-construal moderates the effect of visual harmony on attractiveness. Specifically, the positive effect of visual harmony on attractiveness – through self-congruity – is more pronounced with consumers possessing a more interdependent self-construal, and with products that are more hedonic than utilitarian.

Given the pivotal role attractiveness has in influencing consumer behavior, understanding what differences, at the individual and cultural levels, impact the harmony-attractiveness relationship helps marketers to better match the visual design of marketing stimuli to target audiences.

This study is among the first to show how the social-self impacts consumer response to marketing visuals. Further, value stems from adopting a holistic perspective on design, clarifying the process mechanism, and identifying boundary conditions.

This study aims to test whether the attributes developed via qualitative or conceptual approaches link to the concept of luxury when measured using a quantitative approach. Given the critical role price has in the definition and identification of luxury products, this research measures whether the use of different attributes is exclusively associated with the highest price points in each category or whether there is some level of sharing with lower price points.

A total of 431 respondents sociodemographically representative of the Australian population were screened for familiarity with the category and then randomly assigned to one of three product categories (wine, spirits and perfume). Best–worst scaling was used to measure the associations between different attributes and the concept of luxury, while the pick-any method was used to measure the association of different attributes to different price points.

The findings are consistent across the three categories investigated, i.e. “premium quality”, “authentic/trustworthy brand” and “good brand reputation/status”, are much more associated with luxury than with regular brands. “Luxury”, “premium”, “antique/old vintage”, “limited production/edition” and “premium price” consistently cluster around the highest price point in each category, while the other attributes tested did not.

Despite the plethora of research about attributes associated with the luxury concept, this is the first study attempting to measure the size of the association. The consistency of the results across the three product categories is encouraging in terms of the generalisability of the results for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on measuring the importance of the attributes, which influence the wine choice of Italian consumers when they buy wine either in a retail or an on‐premise setting, identifying significant behavioural differences across geo‐demographic subgroups of the sample.

The best‐worst (BW) method was applied together with simple statistical methods to measure the degree of importance given by respondents to attributes, avoid rating bias problems, and compare potential market segments.

A general analysis of BW scores showed that direct, personal and sensorial experiences are the most important attributes when choosing wine. The statistical analysis evidenced that, while choosing wine in retail stores, the level of involvement respondents have toward wine, the age of the interviewees and the geographical provenance of the respondents showed the greatest differences in attribute importance. Respondents in the on‐premise sector were more similar across the socio‐demographic groups compared to the retail respondents, with differences in the age and involvement having the greatest effect compared to other variables.

The BW method has never been applied in Italy so far. Moreover, it has never been used to measure preferences of Italian consumers for wine, either in the retail or in the on‐premise setting. The BW method allowed researchers to identify the attributes able to influence consumers choices for wine at most (and at least). Compared to other methodologies, this has been done avoiding problems of rating bias, favouring a cross regional comparison of the way diverse populations judge similar attributes.

The paper aims to analyse the current situation and the perspectives of Italian wine in key Asian export markets – China, Japan, India, Singapore and South Korea. These countries show the highest growing rates in wine consumption and are forecasted to become increasingly more strategic for Italian wine producers.

A SWOT analysis is applied to the most recent set of secondary data available from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), the Italian National Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), the International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV) and Euromonitor International reports.

The study reveals that the most interesting markets for Italian wines are China and South Korea. The key strengths are mainly related to high quality products, evoking classic values and being perceived as a status symbol, while the main concerns for Italian wines are mainly related to promotion and distribution issues.

The SWOT analysis can be used to develop a strategy that takes into consideration the potential strengths and opportunities and the impact of weaknesses and threats, but it cannot cover all the possible aspects Italian wineries must know about Asian markets. It offers a base for further and deeper thoughts about the how to succeed in the most dynamic and challenging markets of the next 20 years.

Differently from other studies, which tend to analyse Italian perspectives in Asian markets on a country‐by‐country basis, this work represents the most recent and comprehensive research on Italian wines in Asian markets.

This paper aims to argue that the polarization index (φ) represents a valid loyalty measure for evaluating changes over time.

The brand performance measures (BPM) are a valid and useful tool for marketing managers in measuring the loyalty consumers attach, in a single time period, to a product or brand. However, the BPM reflect other attributes and not only loyalty. Over time, what might appear to be a change in loyalty may actually be a change in market size or market share. The polarization index (φ) is not biased in this manner and is more appropriate for evaluating changes over time. The study compares the results obtained with three well known BPM utilised for the analysis of loyalty – the purchase frequency, the share of category requirements and the repeat rate – with those obtained with the φ on the purchases of wine made by Italian consumers in the retail sector over two three‐year periods (2003‐2005 and 2006‐2008).

The study shows that the BPM are a fundamental source of information on the loyalty consumers attach to brands and products at one point in time. However, their strong relationship with market share risks providing results that do not reflect actual trends in loyalty. By comparison, φ provides a valid and useful analysis of the ways in which loyalty evolves over time.

Although several researchers have studied the uses of φ on one‐year and three‐year periods, none observed how the index offers more valid results than the BPM over time. The paper shows that marketing managers should always compare the results obtained with the BPM with those derived from the φ before drawing conclusions on the real loyalty trends of their products and brands.

Cask wine (bag‐in‐box, soft pack) has not received considerable attention in wine marketing research, but interest among winemakers and consumers has been increasing steadily. However, little is known about what drives consumer preferences for cask wine and, furthermore, what the profile of the cask wine consumer is. This study aims at filling this gap.

Based on a web‐based survey, the best‐worst scaling (BWS) method was applied to measure the importance of attributes that Greek consumers assign when choosing cask wine. Then, a latent class clustering analysis based on the importance ratings of the attributes was applied in order to segment the Greek cask wine market.

The most important attributes were found to be price, quality and convenience packaging, whereas brand, grape variety and origin were found to be the least important ones. In relation to structure, the Greek cask wine market was found to consist of four distinct segments that were labelled as connoisseurs, convenience seekers, experienced and risk averse. These segments showed differences in relation to their past experience and in the importance given to intrinsic (quality, taste, origin) as opposed to extrinsic cues (brand, price, convenience packaging).

Two main strategic directions are suggested to Greek cask wine producers: they can either maintain the current approach to the market by providing a “simple”, not particularly refined wine, or adopt a sustainable eco‐friendly positioning.

This study contributes to the understanding of what drives consumers' preferences for cask wine, something that few studies have done until now. Moreover, this is the first study to use the BWS method for this type of product.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to give a descriptive outlook of the competitive environment in the UK wine market, and then to show the presence of “consumer confusion” elements in it.

The consumer confusion concept has been considered as a framework in order to test the existence of the principal elements of consumer misunderstanding in the buying process. Data have been collected from secondary sources and through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews among a sample of 40 stakeholders of the wine supply chain in the UK.

The main findings prove the existence of the essential characteristics that can generate a certain degree of consumer confusion, and the relative consciousness of key informants that some strategies need to be adopted to reduce it, although only a few have already been performed.

This paper is probably the first work that tests the consumer confusion conditions through a qualitative analysis following the expectations of previous research conducted by Drummond and Rule.