?From Generation Y to Generation Wine? A Best-Worst scaling study of wine attribute importance

South Africa is an emerging market, but it is also the eighth largest wine producer in the world. Despite the country?s established position in the global wine industry and its rich history in wine production, South Africa has a significantly low level of wine consumption per capita compared to other wine-producing countries. Consequently, there is a need for wine producers to explore opportunities and strategies to increase domestic wine consumption. One such opportunity lies in new, unexplored markets, such as the emerging Generation Y consumers. However, these consumers seem to lack knowledge when selecting and purchasing wine mainly because of their inadequate experience with the product. Owing to the complex nature of wine, consumers typically identify and prioritise certain wine attributes. For the purposes of this study, 13 wine attributes were identified from prior research that might influence consumers? wine selection and purchase behaviour, namely, ?taste?, ?price?, ?someone recommended it?, ?medal/award?, ?brand?, ?attractive front label?, ?in-store promotions?, ?grape variety?, ?region of origin?, ?information on back label?, ?read about it?, ?matches my food? and ?information on shelf?. This study investigated the relative importance of these wine attributes to South African Generation Y consumers. A quantitative research design that used self-administered, non-interactive surveys was presented to a student sample at a leading South African university. The relative importance of the wine attributes was measured using the Best-Worst scaling method. The results indicated that ?taste?, ?price?, ?someone recommended it,? ?medal/ award? and ?brand? were deemed the most important wine attributes, whereas the attributes ?information on shelf?, ?matches my food?, ?read about it?, ?information on back label? and ?region of origin? were identified as less important. Based on these findings, it is recommended that wine producers should focus their marketing efforts on providing South African Generation Y consumers with experiences that involve tasting wine; that wine producers should compile appropriate wine pricing strategies; and that they should encourage opinion-sharing of their wines. By gaining a deeper understanding of the wine selection and purchasing behaviour of South African Generation Y consumers and the importance they place on wine attributes the low level of South Africa?s per capita wine consumption can be addressed in a positive way.