The impact of expert opinion in consumer perception of wines

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the way in which consumers integrate experts' opinions into their own evaluations of a selection of red wines.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct an experiment to measure the influence of experts' opinions in relation to the complexity of the information, the level of consensus between different experts, and the consumer's level of category knowledge.FindingsConfirmation is found for the effect of received information on consumers' product evaluations. Variation is found in relation to the consumer's level of category knowledge. Expert ratings have a stronger influence on individuals with low knowledge of the wine category than on those with high knowledge. The level of consensus between experts and the complexity of the information in this case have no effect on the impact of their opinions.Originality/valueThis paper takes a deeper look into the effect of “weak‐tie” personal information sources, particularly the opinions of experts regarding wine. Scientific research into the effect of expert judgments on consumer perceptions is still scant and businesses also need to assess the factors underlying its impact, given that the influence of expert judgment can be as crucial as quality to a product's success. The main feature that distinguishes this paper from the previous literature is that it integrates all three moderating effects in a single experiment: level of expert consensus, the complexity of the information provided and the prior knowledge of the consumer.

Community and Expert Wine Ratings and Prices

“…Expert opinions are also relied on by many consumers and can have a significant impact on sales and product success (Chocarro & Cortiñas, 2013). Expert wine opinions can take many forms (i.e.…”

“…Expert wine opinions can take many forms (i.e. ratings, awards, competition results, tasting notes) and are available through a number of channels, that is, wine labels and other forms of advertising, websites, specialised and general press (Chocarro & Cortiñas, 2013;Marks, 2015). In a series of studies involving consumer experiments (Lockshin et al, 2006;Chocarro & Cortiñas, 2013;Neuninger et al, 2017), expert opinions, ratings and awards have been found to significantly impact wines sales or purchase intentions.…”

“…ratings, awards, competition results, tasting notes) and are available through a number of channels, that is, wine labels and other forms of advertising, websites, specialised and general press (Chocarro & Cortiñas, 2013;Marks, 2015). In a series of studies involving consumer experiments (Lockshin et al, 2006;Chocarro & Cortiñas, 2013;Neuninger et al, 2017), expert opinions, ratings and awards have been found to significantly impact wines sales or purchase intentions. While in the hedonic wine price literature, Oczkowski and Doucouliagos' (2015) meta-analysis demonstrates that a moderate partial correlation of 0.30 exists between wine prices and expert quality ratings across 180 estimated models and that this relation is significant for over 90 per cent of models.…”

Wine prestige and experience in enhancing relationship quality and outcomes

“…We consider a wine brand image to signify something that is trustworthy, reliable, likeable, and appealing or in other words, a very good brand. In addition, expert opinions, consumption experience and knowledge contribute to creating a favourable wine image (Chocarro and Cortiñas, 2013). The relationship established at wineries, wine cellars, at home, or at a restaurant may develop the relationship between the wine brand and consumers (Vissak, Francioni, and Musso, 2017) Yet, we argue that consumer satisfaction (a relational variable) (Somogyi et al, 2010) will be a key factor in enhancing the wine brand image.…”

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2018)

“…When they are very influential, the wines come to bear their marks/labels (Orth & Krška, 2001), which convert the attributes of experience into attributes of search; wineries even try to elaborate wines that satisfy their tastes in order to obtain the best valuations and scores. In these cases, the administrators of the ratings become prescribers or gurus (Ali et al, 2008;Huang et al, 2009), and influence the choice of many consumers (Chocarro & Cortiñas, 2013, Hamerson, 2010.…”