An exploratory study on Texas wine club members’ intention to remain

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the antecedents that contribute to wine club members’ intention to remain in the wine club. Additionally, this study examines the potential departure and retention rates of wine club members, as well as provides insight into socio-demographic profiles and differences of wine club members.Design/methodology/approachThis research relied on prior literature to build hypotheses that were tested using multiple linear regression analyses. An online questionnaire was used to recruit a total of 352 usable surveys from wine club members of a winery located in Fredericksburg, Texas. The researchers examined the predictive power of perceived service quality, winery wine club policy, customer loyalty and brand attitude on wine club members’ intention to remain in the wine club.FindingsCustomer loyalty and brand attitude were found to significantly predict wine club members’ intention to remain in the wine club, accounting for approximately 49 per cent of the variance explained. However, perceptions of service quality and winery wine club policy were not found to significantly predict wine club members’ intention to remain in the wine club. Additionally, household income was found to also positively correlate with wine club members’ intention to remain.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, this research relied on self-reported measures. Second, wine club members from only one winery were surveyed, limited generalizability. Third, this paper specifically examined the antecedents of wine club members’ intention to remain and did not examine the reasons why wine club members leave. Ultimately, the main implication of this research is in demonstrating the importance of customer loyalty and brand attitude as antecedents of wine club members’ intention to remain in the wine club, as well as in providing insights as to the potential retention and churn rates of wine club members.Originality/valuePrior research is yet to investigate the factors that predict wine club members’ intention to remain in the wine club. Thus, this paper provides evidence as to two powerful predictive antecedents that prevent wine club member churn. Furthermore, this research yields additional insights regarding wine consumer behavior within the context of the direct-to-consumer marketing channel.