French fair trade coffee buyers’ purchasing motives: An exploratory study using means-end chains analysis

Considering the growth of fair trade product consumption in European countries and the expansion of its distribution to different kinds of distribution networks in reply to increasing consumer sensitivity to the ethical characteristics of a product, it becomes important to understand it better. In this paper, we examine the motives and the values underlying this purchase through a laddering methodology with 54 French fair trade coffee purchasers. A quantitative analysis of the ladders allows us to define several groups of motives that are socially and individually oriented. Moreover, our results demonstrate that the retail store chosen (supermarket (SM) or specialized store (SS)) have to be taken into account to implement efficient marketing strategies because there are different motives for purchase in the two locations. SS purchaser is motivated by a wish to protect the environment and to participate in alternative economy, whereas SM purchaser is more focused on a respect for the human rights.