Consumer Trade-Off Analysis and Market Share Estimation for Selected Socially Responsible Product Attributes for Cotton Apparel

Abstract

In light of the growing interest in socially responsible apparel consumption, this study examined the effect of fiber origin, fiber production method, and price on consumer purchase preferences for cotton apparel. Using data collected from a nation-wide telephone survey and conjoint analysis, the relative importance of product attributes and the potential market shares for products with different levels of each attribute were estimated. Analyses based on the average of each respondent’s part-worth utilities indicated that price is the most important criterion for cotton apparel with a relative importance value of 58.5%. The importance values for U.S.-grown fibers with transparency and fibers grown with sustainable farming methods were 30% and 11.5%, respectively. Cotton apparel with the combination of the aforementioned attributes was estimated to garner 32% of market share among U.S. consumers. Cotton apparel made from U.S.-grown fibers with transparency, using sustainable farming methods and offered at a medium price level accounted for a 7% market share. In general, the results indicated that consumer placed greater importance on fiber transparency relative to sustainable farming.