Refereed paper – 5th International Academy of Wine Business Research Conference, 8‐10 Feb. 2010 Auckland (NZ) 1 What is normal wine buying price? An exploration of how image impact upon research data Caroline Ritchie Contact: critchie@uwic.ac.uk Abstract When researching into the wine (as in any other) market an almost inevitable question is ‘how much do you normally spend upon a bottle?’ and or ‘how much would you spend for a special occasion?’ It is usually assumed and established that the prices given will vary in recognised patterns according to whether the wine is to be bought in the on‐trade or off‐trade and in which country. Many qualitative researchers have also shown how the reason for the purchase and place of purchase is likely to impact upon the purchase price. This information may then be used by the wine industry to assist in developing wine pricing and wine marketing strategies. In much quantitative research this information is gained through that simple question ‘how much etc.’, in qualitative research it may be explored in more depth via semi structured interviews or focus groups. To date the answer given has had to be taken at face value, since it assumed that those who volunteer to take part in research usually have a positive, helpful attitude towards the research / researcher. It is also taken at face value since usually there is no method of checking the absolute truth of the response. In qualitative research conducted by the author amongst wine consumers within the UK over a period of several years this question was explored in various focus groups. A ‘normal’ buying price of £4 ‐ £6 in the off‐trade was identified despite the fact that average bottle price in the UK has only recently risen to just over £4. However in one focus group, because of its particular construction, it was possible to establish that it was not possible for the participants to have paid the amount per bottle that they had said that they paid. The amount that they had said that they paid fell into the same ‘normal’ banding as all of the other focus groups investigated but the shops that they said that they bought from did not sell wine at that price. The purpose of this paper is to question the implications of that response for both academic research and the wine industry