How do consumers use signals to assess quality?

Olivier Gergaud and Florine Livat

No 37296, Working Papers from American Association of Wine Economists

Abstract: This article analyzes the way some 6,000 European wine consumers, both connoisseurs and non-connoisseurs, use a set of available signals (price, umbrella branding, goodwill, past consumption) to assess the quality of Bordeaux wines where price is the main source of information on quality. Connoisseurs use this signal less intensively than on connoisseurs. Price represents a substitute for umbrella branding where consumers are not aware of who is beneath this umbrella, and where this signal is thus of no help to them. This could explain why such wines tend nowadays to lose market share in favor of branded wines that are easier to evaluate.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Demand and Price Analysis; Industrial Organization; Marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22
Date: 2007-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/37296/files/AAWE_WP03.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aawewp:37296

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.37296

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from American Association of Wine Economists Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().