Until recently, experience was one of the most valuable assets in the coffee and tea industry. Long-standing importers could assess the market situation following discussions with growers, producers kept an eye on their competitors’ moves and sales figures made it possible to predict future seasons with a high degree of probability. Of course, the market was evolving, but the pace of these changes was more measured. Today this way of thinking is no longer enough.

Contents

• Where the two worlds meet
• Collaboration between science and practice
• When knowledge makes its way to the media
• The market is changing ever more rapidly
• Knowledge-based advantage

You need only look at the events of recent years. Droughts in Brazil and uncertainty over future harvests have caused the arabica prices to rise rapidly. Meanwhile, the growing robusta production in Vietnam has shifted the balance of power in the global coffee market. The tea market is vulnerable to the effects of the climate change, too. In Kenya, one of the world’s largest tea producers, the plantations are increasingly experiencing extreme weather phenomena ranging from prolonged droughts to violent hailstorms and heavy rainfall. These phenomena affect both the volume and the quality of harvest.

At the same time, the consumer expectations are changing. More and more importance is attached not only to product taste and price, but also to its origin, production methods, quality certificates and environmental impact.

The purchasing decisions are now also influenced by factors that were rarely considered in market analyses only a decade or so ago, such as social media, different working models, the growing importance of the shopping experience and greater environmental awareness.

Sales analysis alone is not enough. The companies want to know not only what the consumers are buying, but, above all, why they make such decisions. What is the role of emotions? What determines the choice of a particular brand? Why do some trends last for years while others disappear after a few months?

Many companies are now realising that the answers to these questions lie in consumer behaviour research rather than sales data alone. In many countries, food producers have been cooperating with research centres for years. Since 2022, the Coffee and Tea Market Research Institute has been fulfilling a similar role in Poland.

Where the two worlds meet

From the onset, the project was designed to bring the academic community and business practitioners together.

The initiative to establish the Institute came from Sylwia Mokrysz, PhD, who has been involved in the international coffee and tea market for many years. In her family’s Mokate Group, she serves as proxy and member of the management board of Mokate SA. She invited Prof. Grzegorz Maciejewski and Prof. Łukasz Wróblewski of the University of Economics in Katowice, who specialise in consumer behaviour analysis, marketing and management, to collaborate on the project.

Together, they raised the question: does the rapidly evolving coffee and tea market need its own specialised research centre?

Collaboration between science and practice

For many years, research findings in marketing or consumer behaviour were aimed primarily at the academic community. While valuable academic publications were produced, their practical application by businesses was often limited. The founders of the Institute decided to reverse this scheme.

‘Research projects are particularly valuable when they provide answers to important questions about how market processes unfold, how the behaviour of market participants is shaped and which factors influence it, while maintaining the methodological rigour throughout the research process. Science and practice should not function as separate worlds, but as interconnected ones, and one of the researchers’ tasks is to solve real-world market problems,’ emphasises Magdalena Sobocińska, PhD, Professor at the Wroclaw University of Economics.

Today, the researchers analyse more than just the sales volumes and changes in raw material prices. What is equally important is consumer behaviour: habits related to coffee and tea consumption, the influence of Generation Z on market development, perceptions of premium products and customer reactions to rising prices.

The collaboration between academics and practitioners has resulted in many research projects. The Institute also publishes the peer-reviewed Coffee & Tea Marketing Journal in English which is dedicated to issues related to the coffee and tea market.

When knowledge makes its way to the media

Over time, comments from experts associated with the Institute have also begun to appear in media outlets covering trade, the economy and the FMCG market, including Forbes Polska, Spider’s Web, Bizblog, Hurt & Detal and Poradnik Handlowca.

‘Today, readers expect more than just information on current coffee prices or market changes. More and more often they want to know what lies behind these processes, what the consequences might be and whether they are dealing with a temporary phenomenon or a lasting change. This is precisely the role of experts: not only commenting on current events, but above all explaining their causes, outlining potential scenarios and helping people to understand the direction in which the market is heading,’ says Paweł Pańczyk, head of the wiadomoscispozywcze.pl portal.

The market is changing ever more rapidly

According to Prof. Łukasz Wróblewski, the pace of change will accelerate in the coming years.

‘It’s not only products that are undergoing transformation. Consumer expectations, brand-building methods, sales channels and the importance of consumption-related experiences are all evolving. Research must keep pace with these changes and, ideally, be able to identify them early on,’ he emphasises.

This is why the Institute is developing its collaboration with universities and research partners while also carrying out its own projects. In quantitative research, the Institute collaborates with the Ariadna National Research Panel, enabling it to conduct analyses on representative samples and observe long-term trends.

Knowledge-based advantage

Just a decade or so ago, competitive advantage was built primarily on the scale of operations, experience and access to capital. Today, the ability to interpret data and understand consumer behaviour is becoming increasingly important, as consumer preferences often change faster than the products and services themselves.