Designing wine retail experience for culturally-based wine illiterates

There is a shift in wine consumption from the traditional producer countries, to new wine lovers in the US and China (Mercer, 2016). This upcoming trend appoints to the importance of design for cross-cultural food adaption. The purpose of this project is to design a shopping experience for culturally-based wine illiterates, who are defined as wine drinkers who lack the knowledge, skills and behaviors related to wine (Vidgen, & Gallegos, 2014) . Due to the lack of knowledge about wine and absence of wine from the cultural background, their confidence regarding wine is affected negatively, hence it becomes more difficult when choosing a wine to buy.

This research and design project revolves around two topics regarding wine literacy and culture : (1) to decompose the current situation, why certain cultures experience more difficulties in adopting wine drinking practice than the other, and (2) how different culture dimensions may influence one’s shopping experience. These questions will be further explored with a series of retail design interventions.

Project coaches: Roland van der Vorst, Roy Bendor