The Challenges of Marketing Fair Trade - Wynne, Sandy

American culture. Perhaps this model would evolve into a World Fair Trade Organization
on an international scale.
Another important step is for TFUSA to do a strategic analysis of itself, a useful
tool for several objectives. One is to assist management in reallocating more resources for
marketing, education and campaigns to increase levels of awareness. Retailers need more
support, educational and effective promotional materials, and informational resources.
TFUSA’s current offerings are minimal at best. Retailers could use a variety of attractive
generic posters of varying and more interesting informational brochures. Perhaps an art
contest for designing these posters and brochures would help generate awareness.
TFUSA’s website, a major resource of information for retailers, lacks the ease and
excitement found on Fairtrade Foundation’s site. Another contest could be for designing
a new website, giving the designers online credit, to generate Fair Trade interest.
TFUSA’s website, along with promotions and press releases, should focus on products,
producers and their communities rather than on personalities at TFUSA.
TFUSA’s strategic analysis would hopefully result in a more efficient process for
introducing additional Fair Trade Certified product categories into the marketplace.
Currently TFUSA has a limited capacity to add only one or two products per year. With
more resources directed at increasing awareness, consumers will demand more products
and more product categories. In addition to new products, more companies need to
become certified licensees. With only 20-30% of certified products selling as certified
(Fairtrade Foundation Response to Mercatus Center’s press release, 2007), the supply and
demand are there; the need is for more importers to purchase the supply and for existing
licensees to increase their Fair Trade Certified product purchases. Annual increases in
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