Based on an exploratory group discussion with 12 coffee consumers of varying age, gender, and education, we determined the relevant coffee attributes and their appropriate levels as follows:
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Brand: manufacturer brand and private label. Manufacturer brand was presented as “Douwe Egberts” (Sara Lee), which is the market leader in Belgium, with a market share of about 50%. Private, or supermarket, label was presented as an enumeration of supermarket brands, which account in Belgium for another 25%–30% market share. The remaining market share represents smaller and more specialized coffee brands.
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Blending: 100% Arabica beans and a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans. A coffee is considered of high quality when the blending is 100% pure Arabica beans.
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Flavor: dessert, decaffeinated, and mocha. In Belgium, coffee manufacturers mainly focus on three flavors.
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Package: “warm” and “cold.” Consumers can be attracted to a type of coffee because of the exotic or warm appearance of the package. Therefore, a cold and a warm level of packaging were developed from the perception of the aforementioned exploratory group of consumers. A cold package consisted of a picture in blue and white. A warm package was brown and red showing a cup of freshly made coffee.
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The presence or absence of a fair-trade label.