Indian women consumers’ wine choice: a study based on conjoint analysis

Purpose Wine consumption among women in India is gradually increasing on the back of several factors such as increased urbanization, higher disposable income, rising affluence of the people, exposure to new cultures and a gradually changing perception about wine being a healthy beverage. Eventually, this offers tremendous opportunities for wine marketers to design appropriate strategies to target Indian women consumers. However, along with this growth, there is growing need to identify the attributes that the women desire in the wines of their choice. Toward this, the current study aims to identify the wine attributes that influence the purchasing behavior of Indian women consumers. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews of 27 women wine consumers, aged between 25 to 46 years, were conducted to identify the topmost essential wine attributes. Later, a conjoint analysis using 1000minds, an Internet-based software implementing Potentially All Pairwise RanKings of all Possible Alternatives (PAPRIKA), was used to collect data from the participants. The total number of responses received was 271. Findings The type of wine, taste, price, familiarity and country of origin emerged as the five most crucial wine attributes in wine choice after the in-depth interview. Conjoint analysis results revealed that sweet red wine priced between Rs 600 to Rs 1,200 is the most preferred wine by Indian women consumers. Research limitations/implications The study provides valuable and actionable insights for both domestic and international wine marketers and manufacturers in the identification of wine attributes that predominantly influence women consumers’ choice of wine in India. Originality/value The study contributes to wine consumers' literature by identifying wine attributes favored by women consumers in India. Our findings will be of great use to wine marketers who can leverage the insights to design appropriate marketing and advertising strategies, develop new products and make more informed branding and pricing decisions.