Marketing Strategies of Food Innovations and their Effect on Consumer Acceptance (Innovative Labels for Crianza Red Wine)

The aim of this research is to analyze consumer acceptance of different types of commercial innovations, more specifically innovation in labels, taken as an example of the wine industry, an industry undergoing major crisis in the recent years. In order to conduct the research, different types of labels were designed: The Normal Label, treated as a control group, and three innovative types (the Thermo-sensible label, The Aroma label, and the Booklet Label). Because of consumers’ personal character proving to be an important factor in the purchase decision, that is to say that consumers do not only purchase products for the concrete attributes they address but for higher purposes that correspond to their personality, this research is elaborated under the means-end chain theory. That theory establishes relationships between attributes if the product, benefits from these attributes, and the end states they desired to be reach. The necessary information was collected through personal surveysof a convenience sample of 100 individuals belonging to the Public University of Navarra Community. The three innovative types of labels proved to be acceptable by the consumers. The results correspond to the theory of diffusion of innovations that indicates that innovations that are more familiar to the consumers are those that easier to accept. Thus based on the results, the Booklet label is the easiest to diffuse, followed by the Thermosensible label, and then the Aroma label. Furthermore, it is revealed that when the innovative degree increases, the purchase decision of the consumers become more complex, whereby more involvement in the product choice is required and more personal projection is revealed. Moreover, the consumers also are willing to pay more for labels that are considered