Consumer Preferences of Locally Grown Specialty Crop: The Case of Taiwan Coffee

The role of retailers in the local coffee niche market is to add value with unique characteristics such as creativity, cultural identity, and innovation in order to differentiate their products. Producers/retailers can provide customized services for special products according to different consumer preferences and needs. They can gain the trust and loyalty of consumers in this way. This study aims to understand consumer assessments of the different attributes of local specialty coffee provided by coffee retailers in order to help them develop strategies for increased sales in the niche market. Regarding internal quality, atypically, as the empirical results of conjoint analysis has shown, Taiwanese consumers do not prefer the attributes of coffee such as extra aroma and strong acidic taste. Therefore, they are not willing to pay the premium for these attributes. With regards to external quality, consumers prefer the attributes of specialty café style and product featured packaging.