Consumer Willingness-to-Pay for Sustainable Coffee: Evidence from a Choice Experiment on Fairtrade and UTZ Certification

Abstract

Sustainability labels serve as crucial instruments facilitating the presentation of credible product attributes, enabling consumers to assess various aspects of sustainability in their purchasing decisions. This study aims to evaluate consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for sustainable certifications, specifically Fairtrade and UTZ certification, within the coffee sector in Spain. Employing the choice experiment approach, an online survey involving 547 Spanish consumers was conducted, and a conditional logit model was estimated. The findings indicate that consumers exhibit positive utility towards both sustainability labels examined. Furthermore, the results reveal that consumers are willing to pay a premium of EUR 1.481 per 250 g for the Fairtrade label and EUR 1.379 per 250 g for the UTZ label. The proposed model offers an initial insight into willingness to pay for sustainable coffee in Spain. These results furnish valuable insights for the coffee sector in crafting effective marketing strategies to bolster initiatives promoting sustainable production practices and expanding market access for certified coffee products.