Clusters based on differences in preference were defined to estimate market opportunities for fairly traded coffee and to profile potential consumers. Profiling was done by means of demographic features: age, gender, and education level, as well as underlying factors of the Rokeach personal values scale. Four clusters were identified. The fair-trade lovers accounted for 11% of the sample and were predominantly aged 31–45 years. They were more idealistic and less conventional compared with other groups. The fair-trade likers represented the largest group. They did not differ significantly from the rest of the sample in terms of demographic characteristics, but they were relatively more idealistic. The flavor lovers and the brand lovers each accounted for one-quarter of the total sample and were less idealistic and more conventional. In addition, brand lovers were more likely to be women. The fair-trade lovers constituted the group that was most prepared to pay the actual price premium (slightly over 50% of them). Of the flavor lovers and the brand lovers, who account for 50% of the sample, only a small minority was prepared to pay the sample average price premium of 10% for fair-trade coffee.
The 11% fair-trade lovers cannot be considered equivalent to actual market share because the amount of coffee they buy relative to the total population is unknown. Furthermore, the results of this study were based on the assumption of extensive, equal, and correct information for all respondents and the availability of fair-trade coffee to the same extent as other brands. In reality, this is not the case. Second, the response rate of the mailing was only half that of the online survey. This adds to the explanation why higher educated and respondents younger than 45 years tended to be overrepresented in our sample (although our basic results are unaffected by the specific composition of the sample). Due to the probable, but unknown, bias in the sample toward fair-trade issues, and because of the overrepresentation of the higher educated, we consider the market penetration potential of 10% as an upper limit. Nevertheless, the gap between this and the actual market share of fair-trade coffee of 1% on the Belgian market suggests that even at the actual price premium, there is an unexploited market potential for fair-trade coffee; however, this is somewhat more modest than that suggested by some other studies.