The Post-visit Consumer Behaviour of New Zealand Winery Visitors

Visitation to wineries has often been cited as an important way in which a winery can establish and/or reinforce loyalty amongst its consumers. However, to date few studies have explored the consumer behaviour of winery visitors beyond the cellar door. A study by King and Morris (n.d.) concluded that just 13% of visitors to Margaret River wineries made a purchase of wine from the winery of survey in the 18 months following their visit. In contrast, this paper reports that more than 46% of visitors to New Zealand wineries made a post visit purchase in a period of just six to eight months following their visit. This paper presents some of the results of the second phase of a two-phase tracking survey of New Zealand winery visitors. The study found a higher propensity for brand loyalty was apparent amongst visitors to certain regions and to medium and large-sized wineries, domestic visitors, females, those with intermediate or advanced wine knowledge, those that drink wine more frequently and purchase more wine. More importantly however, it found brand loyal behaviour (post-visit purchase and repeat visitation) amongst repeat visitors to wineries and those that purchased wine during their visit. The study further found that there is a high degree of positive word of mouth (a by-product of brand loyalty) amongst all winery visitors.