Title: Congruency between colour and shape of the front labels of wine: effects on fluency and aroma and quality perceptions

Authors: Renaud Lunardo; Florine Livat

Addresses: Kedge Business School, 680 cours de la liberation, 33405 Talence, France ' Kedge Business School, 680 cours de la liberation, 33405 Talence, France; Bordeaux Wine Economics, France

Abstract: For small wineries that often underestimate the need for applying contemporary marketing concepts to increase sales, some extrinsic cues exist that: 1) influence consumers during their evaluation of wine; 2) are easy and not expensive to control. The colour and the shape of the front labels of wine bottles represent such cues. In this research, we rely on psychological literature on visual perception to propose a model whereby colour and shape interact to affect consumer experience of fluency and perceptions of aroma and wine quality. Then an experiment manipulating colour and shape of a front label is presented. The results support our model. Overall, they indicate that colour and shape that are congruent lead to higher fluency and greater aroma perceptions and perceived quality. A discussion of managerial implications is then presented.

Keywords: label colour; label shape; wine labels; congruency; fluency; aroma perceptions; perceived quality; wineries; marketing; wine bottles; cues; psychological literature; visual perception; wine quality; front labels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.079971

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.29 No.4, pp.528 - 541

Received: 06 Jun 2015
Accepted: 26 Sep 2015
Published online: 24 Oct 2016 *

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