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Market Research of The Coffee Sales in Stara Zagor
Market Research of The Coffee Sales in Stara Zagor
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E. Genchev A. Marinov
Department of Economics, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
The present survey has been performed with the purpose of evaluating the extent to which the product
coffee has entered the Bulgarian market. The article also aims to establish the consumer preferences and the
tendencies of development of the coffee market in the city of Stara Zagora. The survey itself was performed
in the period July-August, 2005. The people who took part in it were 61 women and 60 men. The authors are
trying to define the profiles of the coffee consumers, as well as the relative importance of the different
demographic groups for the companies which are the producers.
Hypotheses of the research: (1) Is segmentation of the coffee market possible? (2) Is it true that there are
a few brands of coffee and they are preferred by the greater part of the consumers? (3) Are the taste and the
quality of the coffee of primary importance for the consumers?
The market research gives information referring to the following results. The analysis of the data received
leads us to the following information, as to the inclinations of the people drinking coffee; the women
between 26 and 35 years of age are the most important market segment and differ considerably from the
other groups that were involved in the survey, in terms of their monthly consumption quantities. Almost half
of the women drink their coffee at home, while the favourite place of the men is the café– the share being
44,3%. The detailed analysis of the survey results shows that the leader on the Bulgarian market is Nova
Brazilia with 28,1%, and the second place is for Lavazza with 23,1%. For both men and women the most
important characteristics of the product are: 1 – the taste of the coffee, 2 – quality, etc.
Anahtar kelimeler: pazar araştırması, kahve pazarı, gıda işleme endüstrisi, tarım
Introduction
The authors of the present paper make an as possible” (Zailer, 1992). We will show the
attempt to clarify the techniques of making a results of a research “which is useful for the
market research by applying a methodology for defining of situations which demand taking of
surveying the coffee market and evaluating the decisions and opening alternative actions”
received results. It is believed that “every (Bernhardt and Kinnear, 1988). Why coffee?
enterprise wonders how the distribution of its The answer is that coffee is the second most
market will develop and, respectively, if there valuable legally traded commodity on Earth
are clearly distinguishable groups of customers, (after oil), the total global retail sales estimated
which are as homogeneous as much as possible to be $70 billion in 2004. The average
and which can reach a definite mixture as well Bulgarian drinks 2,4 kg of coffee annually. The
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Journal of Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty
Bulgarian coffee market proportion between the from them will give quite a good idea of the
coffee produced by Bulgarian and foreign whole market. The survey itself was performed
companies are 58/42%, where the advantage is in the period July-August, 2006. The 121
for the foreign companies (www.fas.usda.gov). people who took part in it were 61 women and
In the last four decades the research done in 60 men.
the field of consumer choices is one of the most The method used for the survey is that of the
rapidly developing scientific branches in the questionnaire. It makes the survey fast and
theory of consumer behaviour. When sdudying economical. It also provides a calm and friendly
the choices of the consumers, we can use all atmosphere for the people who took part in
methods known to the market theory, filling it in. The research methodology is
depending on the aims which are being set. similar to that applied by foreign and other
As it is known today, the study of the Bulgarian authors (Heig and Jackson, 1999).
comsumer choices in Bulgaria has a history of Main hypotheses of the research
no more than ten years, having in mind that it is We will define a few research hypotheses:
still in a process of searching, developing, *It is possible to segment the consumer
specifying and testing of different analythical market of coffee into separate groups and these
and simulation models and that is what groups will differ in terms of quantity of the
stimulates the authors’ wish to make a researsch consumed product, as well as the expenses
in this field. made on the product.
*We think that there are a few (2 or 3)
Materials and Metods brands of coffee which hold the considerable
Aim, object of the research and main share of the coffee market, while the rest of the
research questions market is a distribution of a variety of other
The purpose of the research is to establish brands of coffee. There is a high degree of
the consumer preferences and the tendencies in attachment of the consumer to the brand of their
the coffee market. The object is the separate preference.
users living in Stara Zagora. *We start with the presupposition that the
The main research questions can be consumers will give the highest importance to
summarized in the following way: the quality and the taste of the brand they
- To define whether the product (coffee, in prefer.
our case) has entered the lifestyle of the
Bulgarian people, what is the percentage of the Results and Discussion
Bulgarians taking it, in what quantities and As Zhelev (2000) suggests, in our research
what are the monthly expenses spent on it. we can use the “appriori” approach to
- To establish which are the preferred places segmentation: in it “a grouping criterion
for drinking it – at home, in a café or from a (descriptor) is chosen and the respondents are
vending machine. categorized in segments according to the
- To establish the market shares of the grouping criterion. The segments are analysed
different brands of coffee, as well as the extent according to the differences and similarities
of loyalty (attachment) of the consumers along other characteristics”.
towards a definite brand of coffee. We can use demographic criteria in our
- To evaluate the separate characteristics of research - first, because they are the most
the product, their importance at purchasing of popular basis for dividing the consumer
the product, as well as the comments which the markets, as the consumer preferences depend to
consumers give about the brands they prefer. a great extent on them, and secondly, because
Selection, size of the extract and methods they are easy to measure and access. Those
used at data collection belonging here are: gender, age, profession,
The targets of the research have been chosen family status,etc. The groups which have been
randomly, two conditions have been met: a) the distinguished in this way (clusters) will be
consumers live in Stara Zagora and b) they analysed for differences. According to Punj and
belong to the age group of 18-35. It is our belief Steward, “the main use of the cluster analysis in
that this age group covers the main coffee marketing is the market segmentaion” (Punj
consumers and the analysis of the data collected and Stewart, 1983).
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Journal of Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty
What is striking here? First, pay attention to drink only a few times a month, while the
the differences between the consumption of respective percentage among the women is 14,7
men and women. - about 3 times less.
The risk being 0,1%, that is, almost zero, we If we go into details at the analysis of the
can say that women are the more probable and different sexes and age groups, we will see that
“the stronger” consumer of coffee. Particularly among the women, the risk being - 3,2%, we
in the group of those between 26 and 35 we have statistical differences at coffee
can see that 80,8% of the interviewed women consumption only between the groups of 18-25
have at least one coffee a day. and that of 26-35, as to the answer “At least one
The risk being 3,8% and 3,1%, we can coffee a day”, the higher percenatage being that
assume that the differences between the two of the older group.
sexes at the answers “A few times a month” and Among the men, in spite of some differences
“I don’t drink at all” are statistically significant. between the other age groups, none is
41,7% of the men do not drink coffee at all, or statistically considerable.
Total for women (n2=61) 0,656 0,131 0,049 0,016 0,049 0,098
Analysis of the monthly consumption The monthly consumption of the two sexes and
The consumers who have answered with “at the different age groups has been calculated and
least one a day” and “almost every day” will be shown in talble №2
referred to as “hard” consumers from now on.
Table 2. Monthly consumption of coffee – (with the exception of the consumers who have stated
that they do not drink coffee)
Average monthly
Segment Number consumption (number Standard deviation
of coffees)
18-25 22 37,38 28,35
Men
26-35 23 49,71 37,73
Total for men 45 43,78 33,5
18-25 31 47,1 28,03
Women
26-35 24 62,92 21,16
Total for women 55 54 26,26
Total for the survey 100 49,40 29,42
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The group with the highest consumption is 25) – 47,1 and last come the men of the age
that of the women of the age group (26-35) – group (18-25) – 37,4 coffees a month.
with almost 63 coffees a month. Next are the When considering the statistical importance of
men of the same age group – 49,7, women (18- the differences between the average values of
each age group, we get the following results:
This is the reason why we can claim that the here is measured by the number of coffees
women of the age group (26-35) are the most drunk.
important market segment or the coffee Monthly expenses on coffee
producers and differ considerably from the Whether the consumption measured in leva
other groups that were involved in the research, will keep the same tendencies can be said only
in terms of their monthly consumption. We after we analyse the other two important aspects
have to clarify that the consumption we mean in our research, namely, the monthly expenses
of the different groups spent on coffee.
When considering the monthly expenses on Profile of the consumers depending on the
coffee, we see that the situation is very place of consumption of the product.
interesting. We can see that there are almost no The consumers’ choice research is one of the
differences between the average expenses of fastest growing scientific branches in the theory
women - 7,72 leva against 7,71 leva for men. of consumer behaviour in the last four decades.
The exception is, though, the displacement of Of course, some consumers like to drink
the first two places - the order is the same as their coffee early in the morning at home,
that of the monthly consumption in terms of others – in some cafe with friends and still
number of coffees. Somebody may argue that others – “on foot”, as they say – from a coffee
this contradicts the analysis done above and machine.
with the fact that the women of the age group What can be seen from the table? Women
(26-35) consume more coffee monthly than the prefer to drink their coffee at home, where they
men of the same age. The expenses, of course, drink almost half of their total consumption,
differ to a great extent, depending on the while for the men, especially from age group
preferred places for drinking coffee – at home, (26-35) – the favourite place is still the cafe –
at cafes or from vending machines. The profile the share being 48,21%. We are checking three
of the different groups will be done in the next hypotheses: There are statistically considerable
part. differences as for
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Journal of Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty
the preferred places by the men and the There are differences between men and
women, respectively А) – at home B) – in cafes women – drinking coffee from coffee machines
and C) – from coffee machines. = 0,105 ( 0,05 rejected).
After the necessary calculations we come to As far as drinking coffee from coffee
the following results: machines is concerned – the most common
There are differences between men and consumers here are men (18-25), while women
women – drinking coffee at home = 0,0008 ( of the group 26-35 are the most rare.
0,05 is accepted ). Although the average relative share of men
There are differences between men and is 23,89%, while for women it is – 17,18%,
women – drinking coffee in cafes = 0,026 ( there are no considerable statistical differences
0,05 is accepted). between the two sexes in respect of the
consumption from coffee machines.
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Journal of Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty
Degree of loyaly to the brand within the two age groups. When analysing the
The degree of attachment of the consumers differences between the relative shares between
to coffee with accurately defined characteristics the 4 segments, apart from what we already said
is one of the criteria giving also guarantees for about men above, we can establish (the risk
the longevity of the producer company. being =0,014%) differences between the two
There is an abrupt jump for men (from 22,7 sexes in the “inclination to replace their brand
to 52,2), that is, about 30% of the so called hard with a particular other brand”. In this respect
consumers of a definite brand after their 25th we can say that women are inclined to try and
year. Perhaps their way of life changes and the compare a variety of a few similar products.
“jump” from one brand to another, which is Men take the two extremes: they either become
most common for them –59,1 % , decreases hard fans of a definite brand or try and buy
considerably. The same tendency, but to a much whatever they find.
lesser extent, can be seen among the women,
although there is a much bigger homogeneity
Evaluation of the consumers of the Image of the brand and 6th place – Good
importancce of the different chracteristics advertising.
while choosing a brand No differences were observed between
The observed characteristics, which are men and women in terms of the importance of
included in the survey, are: the image of the the product mix.
brand, price, quality, taste, accessibility in the Let us try, with the help of the conclusions
market net (distribution) and good advertising. we reached when processing the data of the
The respondents were asked to answer to what research, to make a profile of the separate
extent their choice of coffee is influenced by market segmets (Table 8).
the above elements (on a 3-level sclale).
In all the characteristcs, which are object Conclusion
of our observation, women give higher Let us now answer the research hypotheses
average values, although the differences are which we put at the beginning of the research.
insignificant. This shows the higher demand The first part of the hypothesis 3.1 is
of the “weaker sex” when choosing their completely confirmed by the analysis of he
brand of coffee. We think there is nothing data, but it is proved that there are almost no
surprising in that – probably women as a differences between the average monthly
whole are more choosy when buying certain expenses of the women – 7,72 leva, against
goods – especially the most common ones. 7,71 leva for the men.
Both sexes say that, ordered in a hierarchy, The first part of hypothesis 3.2 is also
the characteristics of the product would look confirmed (see table.№7), but in respect of the
like this: 1st place – Taste of the coffee, 2nd high level of attachment, the analysis of the
place – Quality, 3rd place – Accessibility on data shows that only 34% of the surveyed
the market, 4th place – Price, 5th place – people are loyal to a particular brand.
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Journal of Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty
Hypothesis 3.3 was also proved, showing Another important implementation of the
that the consumers give their preferences to research is the possibility to use such market
the first and second suggested characteristics, research surveys with other products, too, not
only they put them in a reverse order – first, only coffee. The popularization of the market
the taste and second, the quality. surveys will give the companies that use them
We consider this survey to be an atttempt a big advantage in their work. They can prove
at a market research, which can help the to be the decisive factor which will help some
present and the future market researchers, of the companies strengthen their positions on
giving them a chance to make use of it. the market and those that do not see their
importance will stay “out”.
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Bernhardt, K., T. Kinnear, 1988. “Cases in management ”, issue 3, p.36
marketing management” BPI IRWIN, p.117 Punj G, D. W. Stewart, 1983. “Cluster Analysis in
Draganov, М. 2005. “Methodical questions of the Marketing Research: Review and Suggestions
researsh of the consumer choice” - “Economics for Application”, Journal of Marketing
and agricultural management”, magazine, issue Research, Vol. XX (May 1983), p.135
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