Coors and Heineken — Your Partners in ... - Origlio Beverage

According to a
Stanford study
on the price
of wine:
“Price matters
on a deeper
level than
anyone
guessed”
Beer is finally getting the attention it
deserves. It doesn’t matter if it is a
craft, domestic or import, beer is
talked about on TV and written about
in nearly every magazine and newspaper.
I have heard a few commentators
say that beer is where wine was
in the 1970s when consumers began
to discover wine’s heritage and diversity.
Naturally, anytime I see something
about wine, I take note since it
may be helpful in selling beer.
According this latest wine study, the
old adage that you get what you pay
for really is true when it comes to the
enjoyment of better wines. According
to researchers at the Stanford
Graduate School of Business and the
California Institute of Technology, if a
person is told he is tasting two different
wines—and that one costs $5 and
the other $45 when they are, in fact,
the same wine—the part of the brain
that experiences pleasure becomes
more active on an MRI brain scan
when the drinker thinks he is enjoying
the more expensive vintage.
People in retail have suspected all
along that price and brand influence
the customer’s perception of quality,
but this study demonstrated that price
affected the actual pleasure that the
brain experiences when the wine consumed
was thought to be more
expensive.
But what about the thrill people experience
when they buy something on
sale The researchers found that consumers
do get an emotional boost. “It
was such a deal!” But there is a downside
when the product is actually
used. Somehow, the sale item just
doesn’t feel as effective. In this second
study the researchers gave a group of
students a can of Red Bull before asking
them to solve some puzzles. Half
of the participants were told that the
Red Bull was bought on sale. The kids
who thought that their drinks were
the sale items solved fewer puzzles
than the group that consumed the
“full price” Red Bull. Once again,
price had an impact on the outcome
of the experiment. Money really does
talk.
So what does this have to do with
beer Price matters on an even deeper
level than anyone guessed. It signals
quality. Even the perceived effectiveness
of a well-respected product
like Red Bull suffered if it was
thought to have been bought on sale.
The researchers documented that
price is not just about inferences of
quality, it can actually affect real
quality in the mind of the consumer.
That is really something to think
about when tinkering with price.
Sincerely,
Dominic Origlio
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