Abstract
This paper presents a segmentation and characteristic profile of consumers who value sustainable dairy production through Green House Gas reduction and feed self-sufficiency in milk. The analysis classified consumers by estimating a latent class model (LCM) of the discrete choice experiment response data, and calculated the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for changes in the additional attributes of each class. The LCM analysis of the discrete choice experiments shows that the WTP of the additional attributes varies significantly among consumers, with the high WTP class accounting for approximately 50 percent of the consumers who purchase milk. A large majority of that class are middle-aged to elderly people, 50 years of age or older, with high annual household income. These consumers tend to purchase higher-priced items for their daily consumption compared to other classes, with no major difference in the amount of milk consumed. This analysis reveals that classifying consumers into such clearly-defined classes allows us to identify different attributes and characteristics from those found when assessing the whole population as a single group. The segmentation of consumers is useful in developing marketing strategies informed by the preferences of the target group for the products being sold.
