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The high level of product substitution in most consumer markets often makes it difficult to match supply with demand, especially in sectors with mature, saturated markets with intense competition and a high degree of product differentiation. The difficulty of using technical characteristics such as quality and/or price to differentiate products suggests that marketers could profit from gaining more insight into the way in which consumers' purchase decisions are influenced by their perceived emotions. This paper investigates this issue in the wine market, a highly saturated market with homogeneous supply, obtaining results that appear to support the notion that emotions do indeed play a part in consumer choice structures, which show a higher degree of abstraction in those segments that report a greater number of perceived emotions. This considerably complicates the task of creating a differentiated marketing strategy, in the sense that suppliers need to give much greater consideration to consumers' self-awareness. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Intense international competition has affected all sectors of the economy, causing a high level of market saturation and in some cases raising fear of an impending crisis. Faced with this situation of uncertainty and crisis, manufacturers are looking to a variety of strategies to help keep them in the market and enable them to compete effectively. One way to do this is through product differentiation. Currently, however, product differentiation often proves difficult, because Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 26(11) of the similarity or slight differences between products in terms of their technical characteristics, quality, and price (Thackara, 1997).:Nevertheless, bearing in mind Creusen's (1998) observation that the first impression of a product has a strong influence in the purchase decision, the emotional response of consumers toward a product may be a decisive factor in the purchase decision. Given the impact of emotions on consumers' feelings and purchase decisions, it appears obvious that product differentiation can benefit from an understanding of how products evoke emotions and an assessment of emotion-sensitive software tools for use in product design and marketing.In addition to the potential role of emotions in product differentiation, another key aspect of the rationale for this analysis is their role in the lives of consumers, where they may help to explain consumer behavior in situations where other aspects, such as attitudes, fail to capture all or even part of the variation in behavior (Laviere, Kleine, & Xhultz, 1993). As various authors show, moreover, certain parallels have been observed between emotions and values (Laverie, Kleine, & Xhultz, 1993;Rokeach, 1973). Values are beliefs manifested in specific behavior patterns, while emotions are feelings relating to specific behavior patterns (Gardner, 1985). According to Holbrook and Batra (1987), values involve preferences and are therefore directly related to emotions. The values manifested in a consum...

Increasing saturation, maturity and globalisation in the agricultural goods market is forcing suppliers to innovate in order to sustain their business performance. One of the options open to them is to gain a deeper understanding of existing and potential customers in order to develop marketing strategies tailored to meet their priorities. This paper contributes to this option by identifying the food choice process for regular and occasional consumers of organic products. Consumer behaviour is modelling using the means-end chain method, which, as well as consumers' interest in product attributes also considers their knowledge of themselves and their personal involvement in the organic food choice process. The results show that the purchase choice between both consumer groups. For regular consumers the two main components in the final purchase choice are health and self-image. Therefore market positioning should pay attention to these personal consumer priorities in addtition to the product differentiating features. Break down the cognitive barriers that continue to hamper the development of this market.Additional key words: consumer behaviour, laddering interview, means-end chain, positioning, regular organic consumption. ResumenFrecuencia de consumo y cambios en los determinantes de la decisión de compra: de los atributos a los valores en el mercado de los alimentos ecológicos El creciente fenómeno de saturación, maduración y globalización de los mercados agroalimentarios, obliga a la oferta al diseño de innovadoras estrategias de actuación, con el fin de conseguir aceptables niveles de rentabilidad de sus negocios. Una de sus opciones potenciales es conocer en profundidad el comportamiento del actual y potencial comprador para adaptar las actuaciones comerciales a sus prioridades. Este trabajo, en este contexto, contribuye identificando el proceso de compra para compradores habituales y ocasionales de alimentos ecológicos. El análisis de dicho comportamiento del consumidor se realiza utilizando la metodología de Means-End Chain, que considera, además del interés por los atributos del producto, el conocimiento de sí mismos que tienen los compradores, y su implicación personal en el proceso de elección en alimentos ecológicos. Los resultados indican que las elecciones de compra difieren entre ambos grupos. Para los consumidores habituales los dos factores claves en la elección de compra son la salud y la buena valoración personal. Pueden, por lo tanto, estos aspectos de la persona ser utilizados tanto en el posicionamiento de mercado como en las actuaciones de diferenciación del producto, reduciendo las barreras del conocimiento que siguen limitando el desarrollo de este mercado.Palabras clave adicionales: cadena medio fin, comportamiento del consumidor, consumo habitual de alimentos ecológicos, entrevista laddering, posicionamiento.

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the current wine consumption situation with special attention being paid to the habits and preferences of young consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe study was carried out on a sample of 318 consumers; 50 per cent of the sample were under the age of 35 and 50 per cent were older. The information gathered was then subjected to the appropriate statistical tests. The lifestyles and images of wine consumption of those surveyed was first looked at, followed by the results obtained related to consumption of drinks such as water, fruit juice, soft drinks, beer and, of course, wine.FindingsLifestyles are changing and the results found here indicate that the under‐35s are concerned about their health and to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is reflected in a certain negative view of wine with its consumption being reserved for special occasions. With regard to knowledge of Denominacion de Origen, the results are pointing out that a small sector of the under‐35 group had only a vague notion of its meaning. This situation suggests a need for promotional activity by business and institutions aimed at increasing the knowledge of young people have of wine.Originality/valueThis study offers information to the wine industry for the improvement of young consumers' knowledge of the meaning of Denominacion de Origen as a guarantee of the origin of a product and of its quality.

This study investigates factors affecting consumer purchase choice (cognitive structures) in two foods with different perceived risk levels. Means-end chain methodology is used to test for differences in the degrees of abstraction and complexity in the purchase decision process for each product. The results reveal significant differences, with more food safety issues coming into play in the case of the product associated with higher perceived risk in the past. This might suggest a non-temporal effect on consumers' level of risk perception in food products, with important implications for crisis management. Furthermore, logit models estimated to investigate the health impact of foods show that age and income have played a role in turning this credence attribute into a key element of consumer choice. Copyright (c) 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation (c) 2009 The Agricultural Economics Society.