Purpose

This paper aims to formulate a hedonic pricing model for Japanese rice wine, sake, via hierarchical Bayesian modeling estimated using an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. Using the estimated model, the authors examine how producing regions, rice breeds and taste characteristics affect sake prices.

Design/methodology/approach

The datasets in the estimation consist of cross-sectional observations of 403 sake brands, which include sake prices, taste indicators, premium categories, rice breeds and regional dummy variables. Data were retrieved from Rakuten, Japan’s largest online shopping site. The authors used the Bayesian estimation of the hedonic pricing model and used an ancillarity–sufficiency interweaving strategy to improve the sampling efficiency of MCMC.

Findings

The estimation results indicate that Japanese consumers value sweeter sake more, and the price of sake reflects the cost of rice preprocessing only for the most-expensive category of sake. No distinctive differences were identified among rice breeds or producing regions in the hedonic pricing model.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to estimate a hedonic pricing model of sake, despite the rich literature on alcoholic beverages. The findings may contribute new insights into consumer preference and proper pricing for sake breweries and distributors venturing into the e-commerce market.

中文翻译：

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日本黄酒的分层贝叶斯享乐回归分析：价格合适吗？

目的

本文旨在通过使用高效马尔可夫链蒙特卡罗 (MCMC) 方法估算的分层贝叶斯模型，为日本清酒制定享乐定价模型。使用估计模型，作者研究了产区、水稻品种和口味特征如何影响清酒价格。

设计/方法/途径

估计中的数据集包括对 403 个清酒品牌的横截面观察，其中包括清酒价格、口味指标、优质类别、水稻品种和区域虚拟变量。数据取自日本最大的在线购物网站乐天。作者使用享乐定价模型的贝叶斯估计，并使用辅助性-充足性交织策略来提高 MCMC 的采样效率。

发现

估算结果表明，日本消费者更看重更甜的清酒，而清酒的价格仅反映最昂贵类别清酒的大米预处理成本。在享乐定价模型中，水稻品种或产区之间没有明显差异。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，尽管有丰富的酒精饮料文献，但这项研究是第一个估计清酒享乐定价模型的研究。这些发现可能会为进入电子商务市场的清酒酿酒厂和分销商提供有关消费者偏好和适当定价的新见解。