A study of changes to the websites of British Columbia wineries between 2004 and 2012

This study evaluates the changes that took place in British Columbia wineries’ websites from 2004 to 2012. Through a longitudinal content analysis of website features, this research provides a better understanding of the technological status and marketing activities of British Columbia wineries. The first part of this research covers literatures on the wine industry and its e-commerce adoption. An extensive overview of e-commerce adoption models and website strategies were included in this thesis. Through adoption of the Website Stage Model, this study reveals that market integration increases from the basic stage to advanced stages but remains the same across advanced stages. The findings also show that there is an increasing tendency of wineries to complete online transactions on wineries’ websites instead of outsourcing these transactions to third parties. In addition, this study identifies several new and emerging features in the wineries’ websites that will help future research in the wine industry. Wineries will be able to use this research to easily assess their current website stage. This study also provides wineries with information about the level of sophistication of online marketing activities. The current trends illustrated by the data of British Columbia wineries will help wineries move their websites to a more advanced stage. Moreover, the research provides insights for wineries in British Columbia to adopt e-commerce using the industry specific market integration model.Graduate Studies, College of (Okanagan)Graduat