The market of rosé wines in Italy: an hedonic price analysis on retail channel

Purpose. This paper is aimed to analyze the market of rosé wines in Italy, to outline market segments and strategies and to investigate the fixing price process of these wines in Italian retail. Design/methodology/approach. A survey has been carried out on retailers by collecting data about wines as intrinsic attributes (grape variety, blending, regional origin, alcohol content, etc.), extrinsic attributes (packaging, price, brand, price), point of sale and visual merchantising (display, facing). The hedonic analysis required a rearrangement of data survey while a Box-Cox transformation allow us to control a strong heteroskedasticity detected on data. Findings. Results shows three wine segments: still, semi-sparkling and sparkling rosé. The still segment is strongly differentiated while the price is affected by the certification of origin, grape, wine blending, brand and outlet features suggesting two main strategies. One strategy is focused on geographical indication endorsing consumer’s brand loyalty; the other strategy is mainly driven by retailers and weak producers’ brands. Semi-sparkling and sparkling wines show a different picture since producers and retailers follow consumer’s preferences towards fresh and easy drinking wines Practical implications. The hedonic analysis give suggestions to wine rosè producers that should reinforce their brand through associations among intrinsic attributes such as geographical indication and extrinsic ones as well as to meet retailer requirements