THE INFLUENCE OF BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND SATISFACTION ON WINE LOVE AND LOYALTY

The current study focuses on brand love of wine and on whether or not customer expertise influences the relationship between brand love of wine and satisfaction, brand image, worth-of-mouth, and loyalty. Derived from a review of previous literature, hypotheses were tested by employing the PLS approach and an initial model was tested with a sample of wine consumers. The main findings suggest that wine consumers satisfied with their preferred wine brand and conscious of a good brand image are more likely to love wine, buy it and encourage others to buy and give advice. The results of the study provide some practical implications. When developing, labeling and naming a wine brand, wine producers and managers should be aware that it is possible to create not only attraction but even passion as well as feelings of love for a wine. Hence, it is important to focus on positive emotions towards the wine, planning for favorable experience with the wine, and create an image of trustworthiness. As to the knowledge of the authors, this is the first attempt to investigate satisfaction and brand image as antecedents of brand love and customer expertise as moderator. It is also the first time that the construct of brand love is applied in the wine context.