APPLICATION OF THE CONVERSION RATE AS AN USEFUL TOOL FOR ASSESSING AND MONITORING THE MARKETING PERFORMANCE OF A WINE SHOP

Starting more than a decade ago, there is an on-going shift towards customer-centric marketing, but the wine market has shown a slower turn into this direction. In order to confer to the costumer a superior overall purchasing experience and to increase the performance of the wine shop, an important issue should be finding the right tools for evaluating the purchase and consumption behaviour of these wine consumers. The aim of this study is to assess the indicators used by Wine Shops to evaluate the performance of their physical (bricks-and-mortar) retail shops, the consumers' satisfaction and the factors influencing the purchase decision. The data was collected during 2012 in a bricks-and-mortar wine shop using the method of observation and the conversion rate was analysed along with the involved factors. The results show that, when purchasing wine, a multitude of extrinsic factors have a significant impact on the buying decision and hence on conversion rate. Touching the products, tasting wine in the shop and the amount of time spent discussing with staff have shown a positive impact on the conversion rate. The loyal clients versus new prospective clients and the existence of interaction with staff versus no contact have shown significant differences in conversion rate. As the costs of increasing the traffic into the wine shops is high, a better use of the existing sales opportunity, measured through conversion rate, should be an essential part in analysing the performance of the wine shop.