Origin Information and Retail Sales of Wine

The purpose of this study is to investigate how origin information for wine products influences retail sales. The growing variety of products and the generally singular origin of wine products makes this market particularly sensitive to origin information. The origin of wine is often perceived as an indicator of quality and is used as the basis of decision making when purchasing wine products. This study empirically tests a portion of Johansson's framework for the use of origin information through both a market survey and a field experiment to determine the predictive value on market position for a group of wine products from the Texas region. The results of the survey and the field experiment were consistent and found that emphasizing the origin of Texas wine significantly influenced retail sales. These results also indicate that special displays and increased retail shelf space do not always have a positive effect on sales of the displayed products. Therefore, it is important for retail managers to first identify whether the image of the wine's origin is perceived positively or negatively before using origin information in store displays.