Climate change and other challenges in the field of healthcare and unfair food distribution all lead to the question of sustainability of the current social development model. To lessen the effect of agricultural production and consumption of food on our climate, the focus on sustainable food production and consumption is essential, as they are closely connected with the development of the society and a fairer resource distribution. Consumers’ food choices are an essential part of changing the existing consumer patterns into sustainable ones. Researchers find that consumers tend to prefer sustainable products, however, this is often not reflected in their purchasing behaviour. This master’s thesis analyses the importance of motives for food choice and compares them with sustainability attributes to better understand their motivation to buy sustainable products. The individual motives and attributes were compared in three product categories (dairy, meat, fruits, and vegetables). Based on the perceived importance of attributes and the identified stage according to the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, we conducted a factor analysis. The analysis showed that the motives for food choice and sustainability attributes can be combined into three factors. Based on those factors we prepared a consumer segmentation to be able to customize communication messages for consumers, consequently reaching a greater efficiency. Based on the three identified segments of consumers and their characteristics and the identified stage according to the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, we prepared suggestions for food suppliers and provided them with key topics and messages to promote sustainable consumption.
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