Incubator Initiative - Beyond the traditional wine cellar door: Do tiered cellar door service offerings maximise value for different wine tourist segments?

Abstract

This Incubator Initiative focuses on developing a better understanding of the different consumer segments that visit wineries and what service offering mix (e.g. wine tasting, restaurant, gift shop, gallery/museum, etc…) represents an appropriate value proposition for them.

Using a combination of intercept surveys, visitor tracking analytics and POS data at two research sites in Western Australia the study identified four wine tourist segments and profiled their underlying wine consumption habits, visitation motivations and onsite spending behaviour. This ultimately identifies their financial value to a wine producer and answers the research question:

Do tiered cellar door service offerings maximise value for differing wine tourist segments? The answers is Yes.

Summary

Two key segmentation bases were used in identifying the segments: 1) wine product involvement (i.e. how important wine is to them and how invested they are in the product), and; 2) motivation to visit the winery (i.e. motivated to taste and buy wine versus motivated to socialise with friends/family). Based on these segmentation bases, four wine tourist segments were identified:

1. Highly motivated to taste/buy wines – High wine product involvement (42.9%)
2. Low-moderate motivation to taste/buy wines – High wine product involvement (24.1%)
3. Low motivation to taste/buy wines – Moderate wine product involvement (23.5%)
4. Low motivation to taste buy wines – Low wine product involvement (9.7%)

Detailed profiles and strategies for each segment are outlined within the report. Key insights/recommendations include:

1. Less than 50% of winery visitors are motivated to taste and buy wines. Conversely, every segment is highly motivated to socialise with friends/family. Therefore, wine producers must view visitors as wine tourists rather than traditional wine consumers.
2. All segments have similar average spend amounts (lowest $113.94 - highest $132.28). As such, there is no specific segment that can be classified as a ‘high value’ segment.
3. Expanding the service offering mix to including food options reduces the reliance on the cellar door to drive wine sales through takeaway wine only. Further, it increases DTC sales, keeps visitors onsite longer creating a vibrant atmosphere and leads to greater repeat visitation.
4. Gift shops offer limited value. Conversion rates on visitors entering the gift shop at both sites were 1.96% and 3.63% respectively, representing very low conversion rates. Wine producers should consider repurposing these spaces.
5. Wine producers should charge for wine tasting. It qualifies ‘wine consumers’ amongst overall ‘wine tourist’ visitors, manages capacity, allows staff to provide individual service and increases sales conversions whilst having no negative impact on visitors attitude towards the winery.