Consumer perceptions of wine brand names

Abstract

Successful companies are often associated with strong brand names that convey meaning and imagery to consumers. There is a considerable body of evidence that brand names are associated to consumer perceptions of quality and their purchase intentions, and the brand name attribute is has been found to be important to wine consumers during the purchase decision making process. This paper seeks to examine the influence of actual wine brand names on consumer perceptions of quality and price, in the absence of any other product information or prior brand experience. This study firstly categorised New Zealand wine brand names and then provided examples from these seven categories to respondents via an online questionnaire. This study provides evidence that a brand name, in the absence of other product information, influences consumer perceptions of quality and price, and their purchase intentions, and that some categories of brand names perform better than others.