Purchasing Wine in the Information Age:The Role of Quick Response (QR) Codes

Lindsey HigginsMitch Wolf

Marianne McGarry Wolf

California Polytechnic State UniversitySan Luis Obispo, CA

Selected paper prepared for the 2013 AAWE conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa

Motivation

Wine as an experiential good

Wine as information laden Implications for purchase decisions

Cooper-Martin (1991)Thach (2008)

Top purchase decision criteria:

Prior tasting experience

Motivation

Technology empowers consumers

Motivation

Motivation

Quick Response (QR) Codes Developed as supply chain strategy tool

Motivation

Comscore (2012) QR code use in Europe increased 96% from 2011 to 2012

17.4 million users in July of 2012 3 out of 4 users scanned the QR code for product information October of 2011, 20.4 million Americans used their smart

phone to scan a QR code for product information

Okazaki and Barwise (2011) QR codes as an area of emerging research and growth in

retailing

QR Codes Information Purchase Decision

• Product knowledge is key in consumer decision-making (Raju, Lonial, and Mangold, 1993)

• Information search as the primary method of risk reduction in the wine purchase decision (Mitchell and Greatorex, 1989)

• One step closer to interactive marketing (Shin, Jung, and Chang, 2012)

• Younger wine consumers?• purchase out of convenience• little wine knowledge• more likely to be engaged

electronically (Lecat and Pelet, 2011)

Objectives

Explore the role of QR codes in the wine purchase decision desirability of QR codes on wine labels

Determine the segment of consumers most likely to respond to QR codes wine consumption behavior demographics wine knowledge other sources of wine information

Methods

25 question survey designed demographics, reported behavior QR code concept exposure

Administered during the fall of 2012 to wine consumers nationally recognized test market location intercept approach

The hands that tend our vineyards are the same that craft our wine, a rare tradition in today’s wine industry. For three generations our family’s vineyard-to-bottle ideology has allowed us to create lively, approachable wines with plenty of character.

$11.99 $9.99

Our back label has a QR code.

Methods

11 point purchase intent scale (Juster, 1966) Verbal anchors and probability estimates

Results: Demographics

631 usable responses

52% Male

Results: Features

11 features

5 point scale Extremely desirable (5) to Not desirable at all (1)

The following is a list of features people may look for when purchasing wines. Please indicate the

desirability of each feature to you when you purchase wine.

Results: Features

Feature % Extremely / Very Desirable Feature % Extremely/

Very DesirableGood value for the money 85.3% Screwcap closure 11.4%

Locally produced 52.2% Organically grown 31.9%Grown in an enviro. friendly way 47.1% Sustainably grown 33.9%

Recommended by friends 73% Grown using biotechnology 11.9%

Varietal I like 79.3% From a family owned winery 46.9%

Feature % Extremely / Very Desirable % Not Desirable at all

QR Code 7.4% 43.9%

Results: Concept Exposure

50% of respondents said there was at least 60 chances in 100 they would buy the new wine

Results: Concept Exposure

Respondents indicated they were likely to purchase 11.33 bottles of wine in the next 3 months

If available, respondents likely to purchase 3.44 bottles of the concept wine in the next 3 months

Results: Concept QR

Increase purchase interest?

38% reported that it definitely did not increase their purchase interest

31.2% reported that it probably did not increase their purchase interest

Results: QR Increase Segment

Reported influence of QR code Few demographic differences

No difference in: Age Beer consumption Wine consumption or spending Gender Relationship status Education Employment Income

QR increased purchase interest

11.6%

QR did not increase purchase interest

88.4%

VS.

Results: QR Increase Segment

Reported influence of QR code Few demographic differences No differences in closure preferences More likely to regularly use apps

QR Increased purchase interest

11.6%

QR did not increase purchase interest

88.4%

VS.

Results: QR Segments and Features

Feature QR likely to Increase

QR not likely to increase P-value

QR Code 3.08 1.8 .000

Locally produced 3.88 3.51 .004

Produced in an enviro. friendly way 3.75 3.31 .001

Organically grown 3.45 2.96 .000Certified Sustainable 3.38 3.00 .005Biotech used 2.62 2.37 .042Family owned 3.71 3.34 .006

5= Extremely desirable, 4=Very desirable, 3=Somewhat desirable, 2=Not very desirable, 1= Not desirable at all

Results: QR Segments and Info

Info Source QR likely to Increase

QR not likely to increase P-value

Google 56% 35% .000

Facebook 33% 21% .024

Youtube 14% 5% .006Facebook ads 8% 2% .002Blogs 16% 7% .003

Which of the following do you regularly use to get news or find information about wine?

Results: QR Segments and Descriptors

Descriptor QR likely to Increase

QR not likely to increase P-value

Wine enthusiast 2.96 2.67 .006

Talk wine 3.00 2.65 .000

Wine Connoisseur 2.42 2.16 .008Would use an app that allows me to instantly purchase wine

2.71 2.24 .005

4=Strongly agree, 3=Agree, 2=Disagree, 1=Strongly disagree

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Conclusions

Little importance to most No differences by age Marketers may be more fond of QR codes than consumers

Some differences related to information Interested in production characteristics Interested in learning more Interested in talking about wine

QR code becomes very

useful tool

Conclusions

Targeted Group

Learn More About Wine

Production CharacteristicsTalk About Wine

2%

13%

9%

.6%

.6%

2% 2%

.6% of 631 consumers

= 4 consumers

Concluding Remarks

Questions

Contact information:

Lindsey Higginslhiggins@calpoly.edu

Marianne McGarry Wolfmwolf@calpoly.edu