Wine clubs as a marketing tool for segmenting customers, building winery loyalty and image: some empirical evidence

Abstract A wine club provides selected benefit to a group of customer organized by a winery (Teaff et al, 2005, p. 34). Since their early introduction in US, wine clubs boomed and evolved: from an alternative distribution channel (Coppla, 2000), to a tool for retaining customer loyalty and revitalising steady sales (Barclay, 2005). In this paper we aim to describe the potentiality of wine clubs for Italian wineries and how they can revitalise sales in a mature business (Harrigan, 1990). Research questions are: are wine clubs effective in enhancing firm loyalty and in creating stable relationship with tourists and customers? Can we perform customer segmentation and enhance winery image through wine clubs? Previous findings related to loyalty programmes in the wine business will be considered; a literature review will be carried out to support specific propositions and research questions. After having provided a description of the phenomenon of wine clubs, through the collection of secondary data, we will draw a segmentation of wine clubs population, according to their characteristics. We will present some data from a survey submitted to a sample of Castello di Fonterutoli wine clubbers. We conclude with recommendations for professionals and practitioners.