 | | VinoCellar.com Wine Forums | |
| |
| | | Author | Messages | |
john m.
Grape Picker
Posts:8
 | | 05/30/2005 6:17 PM |
| Wark’s Wine Survey on “Fermentation” Fascinates
Tom Wark’s Survey results, presented on his blog, “Fermentations,” on May 24, 2005 are fascinating. It is true that the results only reflect respondents who know about and use the internet to follow wine. However, the results are still quite revealing, particularly the stat on the gender of those who responded . Wark’s survey reports females as 11% of the responders. The total responses to this input question were 97 of the 99 in the survey. This says, in rounded terms, that only 10 females completed the survey versus 90 males.
Why do I find this so interesting? Do you recall all the fanfare about Beringer’s introduction of its new wine, “White Lie,” specifically designed for women? Beringer reported that the wine was conceived because of the results of their market analysis where Beringer claims that 60% or more of wine drinkers are female and that women buy 80% of the wine sold in the USA. So why are so few women not following wine on the internet or willing to fill-out the survey?
But this gender statistic is interesting in another question too, and that is the one pertaining to where the responder gets his/her wine review information. Wark’s responses show that the internet (blogs and forums combined) total about 42% of where reviews are read. Shelf talkers -- those little tacked on placards and bottle neck advertisements -- only account for 8% of the source for a wine review. Now, if 80% of the wine is purchased by women, but the shelf talker is only reaching 8% of women buyers, then where is the return on investment?
Another interesting stat was what part of the review of a wine was important to the responder. The “Aroma and flavors” selection drew 49% of the tally while the “rating” of the wine drew a mere 8%. This suggests it is not the “number” assigned to a wine by the reviewer but the “description of the wine” that matters. To me, this implies that a very creative writer who critiques wines can be an extremely powerful person.
Then there are the two related questions in Wark’s survey that deal with the “trustworthy” status of the reviews provided by different media resources. Wark found that 56% trusted the internet (blogs & forums combined) where as only 5% trusted newspapers who took ads. Columnist only garnished 12% confidence by those completing Wark’s survey. This question was asked in another way by inviting the responders to indicate the resource they least trusted and the results were much the same. These results suggest that “Testimonials” will continue to be high in advertising methodology and effectiveness.
I highly recommend that you all take a look at Tom’s survey onhttp://www.fermentations.typepad.com/ Great job, Tom.
“Fermentations” survey just opens a whole avenue of discussion about wine, women, men and the resources used to learn about this fine beverage. Tom Wark is certainly on the right track and I hope he will consider expanding his survey questionnaire just a little bit and maybe run it again using his survey on forums such as Wine Spectator, Let’s Talk Wine, West Coast Wine Net, etc. I would suggest the addition of questions that might bring out something in responses for more direct comparison to the Beringer statistics. Perhaps the following type of questions and/or additions to Wark’s survey could be considered.
a 1- Which resource do you utilize the most to select your wines? (1) printed newspapers (2) printed magazines (3 )printed winery literature (4) in-store descriptors (5) on-line newspapers (6) on-line magazines (7) on-line forums (8) bloggers (9) winery website write-ups (10) word-of-mouth conversations
a 2 - Which resource do you utilize the least to select your wines? (use the same responses as above)
b 1 - What factor most influences your wine purchase? (1) the rating of the wine (2) winery web site write-up (3) reputation of the winemaker (4) the look of the label (5) comments on internet forums (6) in-store descriptions/literature (7) comments by bloggers (8) reputation of the winery (9 ) reputation of the wine writer
b 2 - What factor least influences your wine purchase? (use the same responses as above)
c 1 - Your gender (1) male (2) female (3) decline to respond
c 2 - How many adults of drinking age reside in your household? (1) one (2) two (3) three or more
c 3 - Who most frequently decides which wines to purchase in your household ? (1) yourself (2) others
c 4 - If you answered “others” in c3, what is the gender of the person most influencing the decision about which wines to buy (1) male (2) female (3) decline to respond
c 5 - Which of the following does your household most frequently purchase? (1) red wines (2) white (3) mix of red and white (4) semi sweet (5) sparkling
c 6 - Where does your household most frequently make the actual purchase of the wine ? (1) market (2) liquor/wine store (3) via the internet (4) on-site at wineries | | | |
|
| | You are not authorized to post a reply. |
|
| |
ActiveForums 3.7 |
| |
| |
|
| | Proposed Change to American Viticultural Area Naming Standards Monday, March 10, 2008
| Wine Primers - Links to Your Wine Education Tuesday, February 12, 2008
| Wine Country Report: Day trip to the Willamette Valley Monday, February 11, 2008
| VinoCellar's Favorite Wine Links Saturday, February 09, 2008
| Wine Retailer Reports - Thanks Winetex! Monday, February 04, 2008
|
|
| |
| |
| |  | Membership: |  | Latest:kimo |  | New Today:0 |  | New Yesterday:1 |  | Overall:2018 |
 | People Online: |  | Visitors:86 |  | Members:0 |  | Total:86 |
|
|
| |
| |
| |  Where Are They: Anonymous User [32] : Home Anonymous User [55] : Wine Forums |
| |
| |
|