The Challenges of Marketing Fair Trade - Wynne, Sandy

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CHAPTER 2: Identifying Fair Trade Marketing Challenges The Fair Trade model has only been formally established within the past 10 years with the creation of international standards, requirements and official organizations for certification, monitoring and auditing. While early growth rates are encouraging, identifying and addressing Fair Trade marketing challenges are essential to sustain that growth. “The sternest challenge facing Fair Trade groups today is how to market their products to a wider audience beyond the naturally sympathetic segment of ‘ethically aware’ consumers and gain mainstream acceptance.” (Nicholls & Opal, 2005, p.153) Retailers play an integral part in the Fair Trade movement shifting from a niche to mainstream. They are at the front line in these issues, often dealing directly with suppliers, importers, manufacturers, TFUSA, and consumers. The retailers facing these marketing challenges, for the purpose of this thesis, will refer to local, regional and national retailers, rather than multinationals. Fair Trade marketing “aims to articulate the social and economic interconnectedness between producer and consumer in a commercially viable way.” (Nicholls & Opal, 2005, p.153) This marketing strategy conveys that interconnectedness through stories of the producers, their families and communities. Those stories create a direct relationship between producers and consumers. Fair Trade empowers consumers by using stories to demonstrate the positive impact consumer choices have on improving the producer’s quality of life. This empowerment motivates consumers to demand more products with socially responsible, transparent supply chains, resulting in more demand for Fair Trade. Fair Trade marketing is unlike conventional marketing. Fair Trade is not a 11
company yet it involves many businesses. There is no marketing department to define and control the Fair Trade brand. There is no marketing budget for advertising or sales people. Fair Trade relies on an organic process of NGOs, ATOs and for profit companies developing marketing strategies that cooperatively promote the Fair Trade movement, companies and products. That process initially started with supplier driven growth, with ATOs and NGOs working to find buyers for existing product supplies (Nicholls & Opal, 2005). Fair Trade has now moved to a demand driven growth, with consumers demanding more Fair Trade products and product lines or categories (Nicholls & Opal, 2005). Through personal observations, readings, interviews and a survey of VT Fair Trade retailers and licensees, the author has identified three broad areas of challenges retailers confront in marketing Fair Trade: Confusion, Lack of Awareness, Availability and Accessibility, and Controversies. A) Identifying Confusion 1) Terminology The confusion starts with terminology and how it is used. The numerous terms and phrases have varied definitions and may depend on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you are on. Here are some brief explanations: Fairtrade: Refers (in Europe) to the international Fairtrade certification system and to organizations associated with that system such as Fairtrade Foundation. European certified products are referred to as Fairtrade products. This term is generally not used in the U.S. (Fairtrade Foundation, Buying into Fairtrade, 2007). 12
Page 1 and 2: The Challenges of Marketing Fair Tr
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgements The MSA graduate p
Page 5 and 6: anding must be universal, yet there
Page 7 and 8: Table of Contents Executive Summary
Page 9 and 10: APPENDIX C: Traditional v Fair Trad
Page 11 and 12: • Producers/farmers democraticall
Page 13 and 14: of Fair Trade products for their re
Page 15 and 16: Although FTC coffee accounts for un
Page 17 and 18: Another book, The fair trade fraud
Page 19: did not have a set format of questi
Page 23 and 24: specifically to products certified
Page 25 and 26: Certified coffee, for example, must
Page 27 and 28: profit margin differential between
Page 29 and 30: experienced similar results. Employ
Page 31 and 32: does that mean all the other produc
Page 33 and 34: in 2006 according to its website. T
Page 35 and 36: Certified coffee, the author was un
Page 37 and 38: farmers enables them to consider th
Page 39 and 40: (Griffin & Pustay, 2007, p.127). So
Page 41 and 42: There is one NI in the South that i
Page 43 and 44: producers getting Fair Trade certif
Page 45 and 46: The abundance of product labels and
Page 47 and 48: many benefits which are essential t
Page 49 and 50: country. In May 2008 the Fair Trade
Page 51 and 52: increase capacity for launching mor
Page 53 and 54: Certified products. 3) Accessibilit
Page 55 and 56: companies like Divine Chocolate and
Page 57 and 58: their MNC licensees demonstrate a s
Page 59 and 60: positive example of why sales are s
Page 61 and 62: CHAPTER 4: Conclusions and Recommen
Page 63 and 64: made a unilateral decision to mains
Page 65 and 66: American culture. Perhaps this mode
Page 67 and 68: To address the challenges of increa
Page 69 and 70: CHAPTER 5: Future Research Areas In
Page 71 and 72:
Downie, A. (2007, October 2). Fair
Page 73 and 74:
Jacques, S., Hong,W. (2007, Septemb
Page 75 and 76:
International Development). Gale. S
Page 77 and 78:
PERSONAL INTERVIEWS/CONVERSATIONS (
Page 79 and 80:
FTRN is an organization that provid
Page 81 and 82:
APPENDIX B: Logos also called marks
Page 83 and 84:
Certified Naturally Grown.A non-pro
Page 85 and 86:
APPENDIX D: U.S. Fair Trade Marketi
Page 87 and 88:
APPENDIX F: Product Marketing Examp
Page 89 and 90:
Awake Coffee Attn: Manager/Owner PO
Page 91 and 92:
February 15, 2008 APPENDIX I: Cover
Page 93 and 94:
Books (44%) Network or trade organi
Page 95 and 96:
20. Do you belong to the Fair Trade
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