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As a result of all of the evidence for global warming, there is an ever increasing environmental consciousness in consumers that is playing a more important role in their purchase decisions than ever before. These environmentally conscious purchase decisions are often based on how well the particular product satisfies their own needs, while minimizing any harmful effects on the environment. Some studies have shown that some environmentally conscious individuals are willing to pay more for a product, so long as is safe for the environment or very little harm was done to the environment while creating it.

Wine tourism is not except from the environmentally conscious mind. There are many potential damaging ecological impacts in the wine industry that those seeking a more environmentally friendly approach pay close attention to, including the farming, harvesting, winemaking, and travelling aspects of the industry. Studies have suggest that wine tourism is a way to connect with consumers, and that wineries must consider not only the winery or wine region, but also the consumer and a more sustainable consumption pattern.

An individual’s consumption patterns is often driven by convenience, habit, value, health concerns, and also one’s acceptance of established social norms. Some studies have found that demographics, including gender and education, can influence consumption and environmental behaviors, while others have found more mixed results. In general, those individuals that act in more environmentally friendly ways will often display these values by presenting a positive attitude toward ecologically friendly products, recycling, or being active in causes that aim to protect the environment.

Many behavioral and psychological studies have found that there is a direct relationship between attitude and behavior, and that strong attitudes toward a particular issue can predict behavior. In regards to the environment, studies have shown that attitude is a strong predictor of behavior when there is a positive attitude toward the performance of an environmentally friendly act. Thinking in terms of wine tourism, this could imply a positive attitude toward the environment would increase the likelihood of that individual purchasing an organic wine, or visiting a winery that touts strong environmentally-friendly practices.

Wine Tourism

Wine tourists are not “one size fits all”. There are many different kinds of wine tourists, which means that it is critical that wineries (or other businesses involved in the selling of wine) must specifically target consumers in a way that shows an understanding of their behavior, purchase intention, and purchase needs, which would ultimately increasing the effectiveness of their advertising approach.

Wine consumption has become increasingly popular in the United States, with consumption increasing between the years 2000 and 2005 by 31% for adults in households with incomes greater than $35,000/year. Very recently, it has been announced that the United States is now the #1 consumer of wine in the entire world, beating out France who previously held the title. This increase in consumption means that there are more consumers looking to purchase wines, therefore wineries and other businesses that sell wine need to tailor their advertising approaches to cater to these new consumers.

In relation to the environment, there are many wineries that have begun using organic or biodynamic approaches to grape growing and winemaking. However, even though these environmentally-friendly establishments exist, they mostly do not advertise this fact, which may be due to the fact that there is still the misconception that organic or biodynamic wines are lower in quality that wines produced in more conventional methods.

Environmental Consciousness and How it Relates to Demographics

An environmental tourist is one that is concerned about environmental issues, and seeks out products that are produced in a more environmentally friendly way. What defines an environmental tourist exactly is somewhat difficult, but some have speculated it can be broken down by examining several demographic variables, including gender, age, income, education, area of residence, environmental attitudes, and consumption patterns. Each variable taken alone does not appear to indicate whether or not an individual is likely an environmental tourist, however some combination of them may be more telling.

Wine tourists’ attitudes about the environment often plays a critical role in determining if they are environmental tourists, and what their purchase intention will be. It has been shown that demographics alone may not be enough to predict purchase intention related to environmentally sound products, but when combined with the attitude-behavior mechanism described earlier may give a strong indication of environmental purchase intention.

There are many different attitudes and behaviors that can influence purchase intention when it comes to environmentally-friendly products, however, that alone would take up another whole blog post. Focusing on just the gender demographic in particular, studies have shown that it can be a predictor of certain consumer attitudes. When it comes to environmental attitudes, the results are mixed. Some studies have shown that women tend to have less environmental knowledge than men, but are more emotionally involved with the cause and show more concern over the destruction of the environment, which indicate that women have stronger environmental attitudes (which translates to more environmentally-friendly behavior and purchase intentions). The theories behind this phenomena are under debate, but more studies seem to agree that it is a more biological and psychological mechanism than more external factors such as differing opportunities for men versus women.

There also seems to be an age effect in regards to environmental attitudes and behaviors. Though the results between studies have been mixed, many have shown that younger generations tend to have greater levels of knowledge about the environmental than older generations, and that younger generations tend to support environmental reform and readily accept pro-environmental decisions that their older counterparts.

Willingness to Pay/Purchase Intention

I’ve alluded to quite a bit already that positive environmental attitudes and behaviors often lead to action by way of higher purchase intention for products produced in an environmentally-friendly manner. One survey of U.S., British, and Australian tourists showed that 70% of them would pay upwards of $150 more for a 2-week stay in a hotel that maintained an environmentally-positive attitude. In regards to wine, a study found that 56% of consumers studied would be willing to pay a higher premium on wines that were considered environmentally friendly, compared to conventionally made wines. Another study found that study participates were willing to pay 18% more for environmentally friendly wines.

One Study’s Model Results

Taking all of these results (and many more not discussed here), one study created a model to test how environmental attitudes related to environmental behavior and thus purchase intention of wine. This model reflected the relationships between environmental involvement, environmental attitudes, and environmental behaviors as independent variables, as well as purchase intention as the dependent variable. The model was run both before and after taking gender into consideration.

Their results showed that wine tourists (depending on their demographics and personality) stated an intention to pay more for an environmentally-friendly wine, as well as to pay for an environmental fee to taste the wine or tour the wine region, the proceeds by which were allocated toward insuring the protection of the environment.

In regards to gender, the study found that men did not have strong relationship between environmental involvement and attitudes, whereas women did. On the other hand, the study found that men showed a very strong relationship between environmental involvement and behavior, whereas women did not. The study also found that women demonstrated strong relationships between environmental attitudes and behaviors, whereas men did not, which ultimately indicates that women are more likely to be more emotionally involved about environmental issues than men.

In regards to purchase intention, the study found that women showed a strong relationship between environmental behavior and purchase intention, as a result of their highly invested emotional attitude toward the environment. This result suggests that women are more affected by environmental issues than men, and are more willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly wines, as well as more willing to pay more to visit and protect a wine region.

Implications for Wine Marketing

The result of this and other studies indicate that wineries must be selective in their marketing approach to attract environmentally-conscious consumers. The results from the study mentioned previously showed how important it is to take demographics, income, and gender into consideration, as well as individual’s attitudes and behaviors toward the environment and subsequent purchase intentions. For wine consumers who are male, advertising messages should have less emphasis on emotion and more emphasis on knowledge-based information. This type of advertising for male consumers could be successful on wine labels, as well as through food or wine magazines. On the other hand, advertising for female consumers should be more emotion-based.

In order to change environmental attitudes, advertising campaigns should focus on the positive aspects of the product, and not the generalized negative aspects of the alternative. For example, when marketing an environmentally-friendly wine, advertisers should mention the specific dangers of pesticides and the problems of organic waste disposal in wine production, but not general global warming or waste management issues. Also, advertisers should mention how they are acting to help preserve the environment by producing their wines in a more organic/biodynamic, and overall environmentally-friendly manner.

Of course, there isn’t only one type of advertisement that will fit each and every wine consumer, thereby wineries and other businesses that sell wine must apply this environmental involvement, attitude, behavior, and purchase intention knowledge to create multiple advertising campaigns, in order to maximize the reach to wine consumers.

About The Author
Rebecca Yeamans

Becca Yeamans is the owner/writer of the science-based wine blog, The Academic Wino, as well as the Tasting Room Manager at a vineyard in central Virginia. With a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Environmental Science, her solid background in science and research allows her to approach wine blogging with a unique style that is both informative to those in the industry, and entertaining for those simply wishing to learn.

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