Millennials generation e consumo di vino: le determinanti di acquisto e il ruolo della digital communication.

Objectives. The aim of the paper is to identify Millennials’ wine purchase drivers. Starting from the assumption that digital technologies become increasingly important for them, we explore their willingness to pay for specific characteristics of wine, in order to get new knowledge for wine industry positioning strategies. Methodology. The methodology is structured as follow: identification, by Factor Analysis, of wine purchase drivers; verification of the extent to which the importance of these dimensions can vary in the consumer behaviors of the three major types of wine (red, white, rosé); identification of potential cluster of Millennials; evaluation of the role of social communication in acquiring information about the product. Findings. Four macro-variables of choice and three wine consumers clusters emerge. Consequently we identified according to the different willingness to pay. Furthermore we explored, for each cluster, the role of digital communication in seeking product information. Research limits. The main limitation of this study arises from the difficulty of defining the selected sample according to appropriate statistical rules that allow a generalization of the results. Practical implications. The image of Millennials provided in this work give useful information for the wine industry, in order to select the competitive leverages that impact on young consumers and to plan an appropriate web-based communication strategy. Originality of the study. This contribution analyzes Millennial wine consumption habits in Italy, that were little explored in past studies.