The Wine Consumption and Purchase Behavior of College Students: An Investigation in the South of China

Abstract

The aim of this research is to discuss the wine consumption behavior of college students in the south of China, to seek possible explanation for the college students' behaviors and finally, to identify which factors may attribute their willingness to purchase and make strategic suggestions or plans for the wine industry. Self-administered electronic questionnaires were completed by 159 college students in Shenzhen, China in 2016. Frequencies, cross-tabulation, Chi-square and One-way Anova and correlation analysis were used in the study. Research results indicate the majority of respondents have a basic command of wine knowledge. The college students have a desire to know wines and the most effective way is through visitation. Generally, they drink and purchase wine infrequently. They would be more likely to purchase wine from the supermarkets, wineries and internet, which aims mainly for celebrations and socializations. Respondents prefer to sweet white wines, rose wines and sparkling wines, in comparison to dry wines, which are fresh and aromatic. Significant differences exist between the genders and the type of wine, while no significant differences between the grape varieties of wine and genders. Strong correlations were found between consumer wine knowledge and frequency. This paper contributes a basic study on college student's wine subjective knowledge and wine drinking behavior in the south of China, which assists the wineries and wine markets to make strategies for market segmentation. It is also helpful for wine markets to understand and make proper market strategies for the emerging wine consumers.

Online wine ecosystem: the digital narrative of Sangiovese

“…A large body of literature (e.g. Chrea et al , 2011; Laverie et al , 2011; Pelet et al , 2017; Vrontis et al , 2011; Xiong and Li, 2017) has investigated how consumers form opinions throughout their entire buying process using the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic wine attributes. Among them, grape variety has been found to be important in informing the consumers’ purchasing decisions (Jaeger et al , 2009).…”

“…This is why, in the wine choice decision, consumers rely on multiple product cues and different information sources to reduce the perceived risk associated with their purchase experience (Barber et al, 2007;Famularo et al, 2010). A large body of literature (e.g., Chrea et al, 2011;Laverie et al, 2011;Lockshin and Corsi, 2012;Pelet et al, 2017;Xiong and Li, 2017) has investigated how consumers form opinions throughout their entire buying process using the evaluation of intrinsic and extrinsic wine attributes. Among them, grape variety has been found to be important in informing the consumers' purchasing decisions (Jaeger et al, 2009).…”