The provision of Fairtrade products in stores of Dutch retailers

[ An inventory of entrepreneurial strategies and opportunities for support to increase the provision of Fairtrade products in stores of retailers operating in SMEs in Dutch Fairtrade Towns in the food, non-food and catering sector ]

Gabrille Rossing MSc Thesis Environmental Policy Wageningen, August 2011

Supervisor: Dr. ir. Peter Oosterveer Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen UR

The provision of Fairtrade products in stores of Dutch retailers

[ An inventory of entrepreneurial strategies and opportunities for support to increase the provision of Fairtrade products in stores of retailers operating in SMEs in Dutch Fairtrade Towns in the food, non-food and catering sector ]

Gabrille Rossing Wageningen, August 2011 MSc Thesis Environmental Policy (ENP-80436) Student number: 831102-710-100

Thesis supervisor: Dr. ir. Peter J.M. Oosterveer Thesis examiners: Dr. ir. Peter J.M. Oosterveer Ir. Astrid Hendriksen

Environmental Policy Group Social Science Group Wageningen University and Research centre Hollandseweg 1 6706 KN Wageningen The Netherlands
Source pictures front page: Fair Trade Original. URL: fairtrade.nl/NL/MainContent/Home.aspx Wageningen UR logo. URL: www.wur.nl/NL

Preface

With this thesis report on sustainable entrepreneurship I am close to finishing my Master studies Environmental Sciences at Wageningen UR. Starting my studies with the Bachelor Organic Agriculture, I found my way towards the topic of sustainable entrepreneurship. Although sustainability is a very broad concept, the basic principle of People, Planet and Profit which I learned here, enables me to approach any case via these aspects. I am grateful for the study opportunities I got in Wageningen, which enabled me to find my way into the topic I cannot stop being enthusiastic about: sustainable entrepreneurship. In my opinion its the essential aspect of sustainable development. In fact, products that are produced in a sustainable way need to be sold anyway, since bankruptcy is not sustainable at all. With this thesis about entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade product I feel that I contribute to making the World a so-called better place, quite a typical Wageningen UR-product isnt it? The World needs lots of improvement on social and environmental aspects, as we continue to idealistically comment. Well, I am pretty sure that many people already do the best they can, I line with things that are important to them and based on their personal scope and view on the world. However, scopes and views are variable, also when one continues to state that many people exert negative impacts on the world. As I heard during the interviews for this thesis, sustainability will become an irreversible trend of production. Of course! The main aim of companies is to exist in the future, so they need to take care of the resources they use for production. Sustainable entrepreneurship evolved from idealistic into a standard approach of entrepreneurs to run the business. Running a company with integrity an respect, referring to the impacts of the way products are made or more specifically: offering Fairtrade products (this thesis), is no longer a matter of philanthropy, but a necessity to satisfy customers and to run an (economic!) healthy enterprise. Bingo. I am grateful to my supervisor Peter Oosterveer, many thanks for your valuable support and critical feedback on my thesis report. I want to thank Keete Voerman and Astrid Hendriksen to invite me joining their project of which this thesis is an aspect, and for their commitment and feedback, especially during the design phase of this research. Thanks again to all retailers and experts who shared their enthusiasm and expertise with me, and with whom I had inspiring interviews. Finally, I like to thank my friends and family who were always interested in my experiences and progress of the thesis. Your support and feedback means a lot to me!

Gabrille

Summary

The distance between production and consumption of consumer goods gets a globalized dimension. The distance leads to a disconnection and unfamiliarity of the consumer with the producer and the production methods, which results in environmental and social disruption at the site of the producer. Fairtrade, one of the sustainable production standards, is an attempt to banish these negative impacts. Although sales rates of Fairtrade labeled products increase, the market share of these products is still small. The Fairtrade Town campaign has been launched to raise awareness for the Fairtrade concept and to stimulate sales and use of Fairtrade products. The objective of this research is to present an inventory of Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies and support retailers need in order to increase the amount of Fairtrade products offered in their stores. Parallel to the theory of Social Practices of Spaargaren, the retailers are actors who are embedded in a system of provision, i.e. the supply chain. The retailers offer their products at the consumption junction. There are several strategies how retailers can offer their products to the customers. The identified Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are inspired by the Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies as formulated by Spaargaren and Van Koppen. Retailers in existing Fairtrade Towns in SMEs in the food, non-food and catering sector and experts in the field of retail and the Fairtrade Town campaign were interviewed. Two Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are identified: the Sales Strategy and the Corporate Strategy. The Sales Strategy is applied by retailers who offer Fairtrade products next to similar non-Fairtrade products. The Corporate Strategy is applied by retailers who perceive themselves to be front-runners in the upcoming field of offering sustainable products. These retailers deliberately offer Fairtrade and other sustainable products. The strategies have many factors in common: in the observed sectors Fairtrade products are provided based on the commercial opportunity it generates, at places in the shelves where customers routinely grab the products (at eye-level). In all retail sectors the main focus of the customers is on product appearance and price. Therefore the retailers do not want to emphasize and promote the Fairtrade concept in the store, except for the label that is attached to the products anyway. Only in the catering sector Fairtrade is promoted in the outlet with help of posters and a print of the Fairtrade label on the menu. Nevertheless, retailers state that customers appreciate Fairtrade as an asset, which is related to the societal trend in which citizens increasingly demand sustainable production and consumption. The USP that Fairtrade generates is based on this trend. The retailers expect sustainability in about ten years to become a standard aspect of production. Enthusiastic Fairtrade ambassadors are important to stimulate retailers to offer Fairtrade products and join the Fairtrade Town campaign. The ambassadors can promote the Fairtrade concept, especially when it is related to sustainability, during events that already exist in the municipality. Large retailers have a central, often national, purchasing department. Stimulating these retailers to provide Fairtrade products is done by the Max Havelaar foundation, not by local Fairtrade Town teams.

Samenvatting

Consumptie en productie van producten krijgt meer en meer een mondiaal perspectief. De steeds groter wordende afstand tussen productie en consumptie veroorzaakt onbekendheid van de consument met de productie methoden van het product dat hij gebruikt. Deze vervreemding leidt tot schadelijke invloeden op het milieu en de sociale omstandigheden van de producent. Duurzame productie (dat het beste resultaat probeert te behalen op zowel het sociale, de natuur/milieu als economische vlak van de ondernemer) probeert deze schadelijk invloeden uit te bannen. Een manier om dat te doen is producten produceren aan de hand van Fairtrade criteria: de producent krijgt een premium, voorfinanciering en ten minste de kostprijs voor de producten die hij maakt. Alhoewel de verkoopcijfers van Fairtrade gelabelde producten toenemen, het marktaandeel ten opzichte van non-Fairtrade producten, is relatief klein. Om de verkoop van Fairtrade producten te stimuleren is de Fairtradegemeenten-campagne gestart. De campagne promoot Fairtrade en stimuleert ondernemers en organisaties om Fairtrade producten te verkopen of te schenken bij o.a. evenement en of in de kantine. Het doel van dit onderzoek is een overzicht te presenteren van ondernemersstrategien voor het aanbieden van Fairtrade producten en de externe ondersteuning die de winkeliers kunnen gebruiken om het aanbod uit te breiden. Naar aanleiding van de Social Practices theorie van Spaargaren zijn de winkeliers de actoren die opereren in een systeem van aanbod, oftewel keten waarin het product wordt geproduceerd en geleverd. De winkeliers bieden hun product aan in de winkel; het kruispunt waarop winkelier en consument elkaar ontmoeten. Er zijn verschillende strategien waarmee de winkeliers hun producten aanbieden aan de klanten. De geobserveerde Fairtrade-aanbodstrategien van winkeliers zijn gebaseerd op aanbodstrategien voor duurzame producten die Spaargaren en Van Koppen recentelijk hebben geformuleerd. De winkeliers in het MKB die voor dit onderzoek zijn genterviewd hebben een onderneming in de food, non-food en horeca sector. Daarnaast zijn er experts op het gebied van detailhandel en de Fairtradegemeenten-campagne genterviewd. Voor Fairtrade zijn twee aanbodstrategien waargenomen: de Verkoopstrategie en de Bedrijfsmissiestrategie. De Verkoopstrategie wordt door winkeliers toegepast die Fairtrade producten naast gelijksoortige non-Fairtrade producten aanbieden. Winkeliers die de Bedrijfsmissie-strategie toepassen beschouwen zichzelf als koplopers op het gebied van duurzame producten, daarom zijn dit ook het enige type producten dat ze aanbieden. Voor deze winkeliers is Fairtrade een onderdeel van duurzaamheid, vandaar dat ze heel bewust Fairtrade producten aanbieden. Beide strategien hebben ook veel met elkaar gemeen: in alle sectoren zijn commercile kansen de reden om Fairtrade producten aan te bieden. De producten worden op ooghoogte in de schappen gezet: de plek waar de consument op een geroutineerde manier de producten pakt. Fairtradepromotiemateriaal is nauwelijks aanwezig op de winkelvloer. Echter, in de catering sector hangen posters over Fairtrade in de zaak en staat het Fairtrade label op de menukaart. Het label is duidelijk zichtbaar op het product weergegeven en daardoor duidelijk zichtbaar voor de consument. Fairtrade 5

wordt wel uitgebreid toegelicht op de website van de winkeliers. Aangezien de consument het meest op het uiterlijk van het product en de verpakking en op de prijs focust, willen de winkeliers Fairtrade verder niet in de winkel benadrukken. Toch zien de klanten Fairtrade als een mooie bijkomstigheid wanneer ze Fairtrade producten kopen. Dat komt waarschijnlijk doordat mensen in toenemende mate duurzame productie en consumptie (waar Fairtrade bij hoort) belangrijk vinden. Het verkoopargument van Fairtrade sluit dus aan bij deze maatschappelijke trend. Het enthousiasme van Fairtrade-ambassadeurs is een belangrijk onderdeel van de campagne om winkeliers aan te moedigen om Fairtrade producten aan te bieden. Het Fairtrade kan het beste worden gepromoot tijdens bestaande, lokale evenementen en activiteiten, en dan vooral op zon manier dat Fairtrade wordt gerelateerd aan duurzaamheid. De producten die worden aangeboden door winkeliers die zijn aangesloten bij nationale winkelketens, worden geleverd via de centrale inkoopafdeling. Max Havelaar, de Nederlandse Fairtrade-stichting, stimuleert deze grote organisaties om Fairtrade aan te bieden, aangezien dat buiten de reikwijdte van een plaatselijke Fairtradegemeente-campagne valt. Uit dit onderzoek kan worden geconcludeerd dat Fairtrade producten, wanneer men het linkt aan duurzaamheid, winkeliers de kans biedt om zich met Fairtrade producten te profileren. Over ongeveer tien jaar zal eerlijke handel (en duurzaamheid) een standaard product-aspect worden, in elk geval in de hier onderzochte sectoren. Voor vervolgonderzoek zou het interessant zijn om te onderzoeken wat consumenten doen bij het aanschaffen van Fairtrade producten. Daarnaast is het interessant om na te gaan wat het verkoopargument van Fairtrade producten is op het moment dat Fairtrade een standaard productonderdeel is geworden.

Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................... 10 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ 10 LIST OF TEXTBOXES .......................................................................................................................... 10 ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................................................... 10 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 11 1.1 Justification of the research ...................................................................................................... 12 1.2 Problem description.................................................................................................................. 13 1.3 Research objective .................................................................................................................... 13 1.4 Research questions ................................................................................................................... 14 1.5 Outline of the thesis report ...................................................................................................... 14 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Sustainable consumption and entrepreneurship ..................................................................... 15 2.1.1 The emergence of the concept sustainable development ............................................ 15 2.1.2 Sustainable entrepreneurship ...................................................................................... 15 2.1.3 The Theory of Social Practices ...................................................................................... 16 2.1.4 Generating trust at the consumption junction ............................................................. 18 2.2 Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies ................................................................................... 18 2.3 Conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies ..................................................................... 20 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS ............................................................................................ 22 3.1 Criteria for selecting the informants......................................................................................... 22 3.2 The interview ............................................................................................................................ 24 3.3 Data analysis and interpretation .............................................................................................. 25 RESULTS I: ENTREPRENEURIAL FAIRTRADE STRATEGIES IN THREE DUTCH RETAIL SECTORS......... 27 4.1 Observed factors for the provision of Fairtrade products that apply to each sector in Dutch Fairtrade Towns ........................................................................................................................ 27 4.1.1 Criteria of customers and retailers to choose for Fairtrade products .......................... 27 4.1.2 The image of Fairtrade products .................................................................................. 28 4.1.3 The place of the Fairtrade label and concept in the stores .......................................... 28 4.1.4 The place of Fairtrade products in the stores............................................................... 29 4.2 The food sector ......................................................................................................................... 29 4.2.1 The Sales Strategy ........................................................................................................ 29 4.2.2 The Corporate Strategy ................................................................................................ 32 7

4.3

4.4

4.5

The non-food sector.................................................................................................................. 34 4.3.1 The Sales Strategy ........................................................................................................ 34 4.3.2 The Corporate Strategy ................................................................................................ 35 The catering sector ................................................................................................................... 37 4.4.1 The Sales strategy ........................................................................................................ 38 4.4.2 The Store Strategy ........................................................................................................ 41 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 42 4.5.1 Factors that enable retailers to provide Fairtrade products in existing FTTs ............... 42 4.5.2 Constraining factors for the provision of Fairtrade products in existing FTTs ............. 42 4.5.3 The Sales Strategy in existing FTTs ............................................................................... 43 4.5.4 The Store Strategy ........................................................................................................ 44 4.5.5 The Corporate Strategy ................................................................................................ 45

RESULTS II: INCREASING THE PROVISION OF FAIRTRADE PRODUCTS WITH HELP OF SUPPORTIVE AGENTS .................................................................................................................................... 46 5.1 The demand for Fairtrade products .......................................................................................... 46 5.2 The place in stores where Fairtrade products are offered ....................................................... 46 5.3 The price of Fairtrade products ................................................................................................ 47 5.4 The promotion of Fairtrade products ....................................................................................... 47 5.4.1 How to remove prejudices............................................................................................ 47 5.4.2 Explaining the Fairtrade aspect of products to customers........................................... 48 5.5 The provision of Fairtrade products by suppliers ..................................................................... 48 5.6 Support of experts to provide Fairtrade products .................................................................... 49 5.6.1 The role of the FTT teams and professional associations ............................................ 49 5.6.2 Fairtrade as a Unique Selling Point .............................................................................. 50 5.6.3 Comments on the focus of the FTT campaign .............................................................. 50 5.7 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 51 5.7.1 The role of supportive agents when aiming to increase the provision of Fairtrade products........................................................................................................................ 51 5.7.2 Conflicting views of supportive agents and retailers on the provision of Fairtrade products........................................................................................................................ 52 RESULTS III: THE CASE STUDY - ENTREPRENEURIAL FAIRTRADE STRATEGIES IN EMERGENT FAIRTRADE TOWN RENKUM ...................................................................................................... 54 6.1 The food sector ......................................................................................................................... 54 6.1.1 The No Fairtrade Strategy ............................................................................................ 54 6.1.2 The Sales Strategy ........................................................................................................ 55 6.2 The non-food sector.................................................................................................................. 56 6.2.1 The No Fairtrade Strategy ............................................................................................ 56 6.2.2 Sales Strategy ............................................................................................................... 57 6.3 The catering sector ................................................................................................................... 58 6.3.1 The No Fairtrade Strategy ............................................................................................ 58 8

6.4 6.5

6.3.2 The Sales Strategy ........................................................................................................ 59 Support from the local business association ............................................................................ 60 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 60 6.5.1 The No Fairtrade Strategy ............................................................................................ 60 6.5.2 The Sales Strategy ........................................................................................................ 61

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................. 62 7.1 The observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies ................................................................. 62 7.1.1 Strategies of retailers in existing FTTs compared to emergent FTT Renkum ............... 64 7.2 Factors that enable or constrain retailers to provide Fairtrade products ................................ 64 7.2.1 Preferences of the customer related to Fairtrade products ......................................... 65 7.2.2 The price of Fairtrade products .................................................................................... 65 7.2.3 Place of the Fairtrade products in the store ................................................................. 65 7.2.4 Promotion of the Fairtrade products ........................................................................... 66 7.2.5 The provision of background information about the Fairtrade concept at the shopping floors ............................................................................................................................ 66 7.3 Support for the provision of Fairtrade products....................................................................... 67 7.3.2 The focus of the FTT campaign .................................................................................... 68 7.4 Discussion.................................................................................................................................. 69 7.4.1 The position of the Fairtrade concept and Fairtrade products in the retail sectors..... 69 7.4.2 The impact of the large number of sustainability labels on consumer choice compared to the Fairtrade label.................................................................................................... 70 7.4.3 The role of Fairtrade ambassadors .............................................................................. 70 7.4.4 Implications of the conceptual framework .................................................................. 70 7.5 Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 71 7.5.1 Important factors for FTTs and the FTT teams to focus on when aiming to increase the provision of Fairtrade products .................................................................................... 71 7.5.2 Research method: Criteria to select the informants and data collection..................... 72 7.5.3 Suggestions for further research on the provision of Fairtrade products .................... 73

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 75 APPENDIXES .................................................................................................................................... 78 I The Fairtrade label .................................................................................................................... 78 II Topic list of the interviews ........................................................................................................ 79 III The Marketing Mix .................................................................................................................... 81 IV Overview of the interviewees 82 V Fairtrade Town Window Sticker ............................................................................................... 83

List of figures
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 The position of the municipality of Renkum in The Netherlands .. 12 A visual representation of the Theory of Social Practices: the Social Practices model ..................................................................................................................... 17 A Fairtrade course at the menu of a restaurant, indicated with help of the Fairtrade label ............................................................................................. 38 The Fairtrade label ................................................................................................. 78 The FTT window sticker 83 The FTT window sticker on the frontage of a clothing store 83

List of tables
Table 1 Table 2 Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies ............................................................... 19 Topic list as used during the interviews with the informants .............................. 79

List of textboxes
Textbox 1 Textbox 2 Textbox 3 Textbox 4 Textbox 5 Fairtrade products in a supermarket with the help of the Sales Strategy . Fairtrade products offered by a food specialist with the help of the Corporate Strategy .................................................................................................... Fairtrade products offered in a clothing store with the help of the Sales Strategy ....... Fairtrade products offered in a clothing store with the help of the Corporate Strategy .................................................................................................... Fairtrade products offered in a restaurant with the help of the Sales Strategy. 30 33 34 36 38

Abbreviations
CSR FTT NGO SCP SME USP Corporate Social Responsibility Fairtrade Town Non-Governmental Organization Sustainable Consumption and Production Small and Medium Enterprises Unique Selling Point

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Introduction

Consumption and production of goods becomes global in scope. Globalization of production and consumption processes results in alienation of the producer and the consumer. Alienation is the result of an increasing distance between production and consumption, where people and goods are moved all over the world (Du Gay, 1996). This state, in which people are somehow not connected to the production process, leads to disruption of the environmental and social state of a particular area, and occurs often in the vulnerable developing countries. Besides, the capitalist mode of production is considered to be the cause of negative impacts on the environment and on people, through for instance erosion of agricultural soil (Matson et al., 1997) and child labor (Basu and Tzannatos, 2003). The increasing awareness of global inequity and an unsustainable use of resources resulted in the notion of sustainable development. An aspect of sustainable development is ethical trade. Fairtrade products are produced with the aim of lowering severe impacts on its producers and on the environment (FLO, 2010). Fairtrade products are regarded as a component of a group of products within the section of sustainable consumption to which environmental concerns are attached (Oosterveer et al., 2007). Therefore, purchasing Fairtrade products can be regarded as an act to contribute to sustainable development. From the 1970s onwards governmental environmental policy was a dominant factor for the provision of sustainable products, and started with the report Our Common Future (WCED, 1987). Recently, the type of providers who offer sustainable products shifted from actors in the (non)governmental sector to actors in the market sector. The provision of sustainable products is increasingly enabled via the market. Market actors have a central position in the production and consumption of products. When striving for global equity it is of interest to acquire insight in strategies of retailers on how Fairtrade products can be provided to the customer, and which factors are of influence to make it work. It is observed that sales rates of Fairtrade products are rising (e.g. Max Havelaar, 2011; Moore, 2004). Sales rates of Fairtrade food products are highest in supermarkets. In total eighty-five per cent of the Fairtrade food products are sold via supermarkets (NCDO, 2010, p. 25). However, the market share of Fairtrade products is still very small. The market share of Fairtrade coffee for instance is approximately three per cent (Pay, 2009). Recently a group of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) has initiated the Fairtrade Town (FTT) campaign, in which they stimulate and support municipalities, and the companies and organizations that are based within their borders, to increase their use and sales of Fairtrade products. Per municipality a group of volunteers (a FTT team) works to reflexively monitor and ensure successful implementation of the campaign in their municipality by meeting the criteria of the FTT campaign. The FTT team ideally consists of members of various disciplines and with networks in the private and public sector. This team promotes the campaign and ensures that local companies and organizations provide Fairtrade products in their establishments. This research aims to identify factors that enable or constrain the provision of Fairtrade products in stores of retailers in a FTT and to identify the way FTT teams can support the retailers to increase the provision of these products.

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1.1

Justification of the research

Since 2009 the Netherlands has its first two FTTs (Groningen and Goes). Municipalities that are or want to become or obtain the FTT status have to comply with six criteria, in which local SMEs are assigned a considerable role in obtaining the FTT status (Fairtradegemeenten, 2010): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A local FTT team is present to meet the criteria for the FTT title. The municipality supports Fairtrade and uses Fairtrade products. Stores sell Fairtrade products. Organizations use Fairtrade products. Media attention for the FTT campaign. Corporate Social Responsibility, initiatives related to sustainability.

The municipality of Renkum (figure 1) is an emergent FTT, it currently aims to reach the status of FTT. Renkum is a medium sized municipality in the middle of the Netherlands that consists of six residential areas: Doorwerth, Heelsum, Heveadorp, Oosterbeek, Renkum and Wolfheze.

Figure 1: The position of the municipality of Renkum in The Netherlands (Wikipedia, 2011).

Renkum is about to reach the status of a Fairtrade Town. The FTT team of Renkum nearly fulfilled the six criteria. Criterion three is still work in progress. Several stores in Renkum already provide Fairtrade products. The FTT team and the ambassadors are enthusiastic about Fairtrade and the campaign. Their enthusiasm spreads amongst the local retailers and organizations. However, the number of retailers who offer Fairtrade products at the required level of the FTT campaign criteria is still insufficient. The FTT team of Renkum asked the Wageningen UR Science Shop to identify scenarios for earning the FTT title and a communication plan to stimulate and support the local retailers and organizations to increase the amount of Fairtrade products they offer. The project is called Fairtrade Town Renkum. This thesis research is a component of that project, and aims to understand strategies that retailers apply to provide Fairtrade products. The main sectors that the FTT campaign deals with in criterion three are the food, non-food and catering sectors. This research focuses on these sectors, hence on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). Besides, SMEs are based within the borders of a municipality (not operated by a national organization1), so it makes sense that FTT teams focus on them to meet criterion three.
1

Although supermarkets are large chain stores (not SME), they are included in this research, albeit only franchisees.

12

Currently in the Netherlands there is no overview of the way retailers in SMEs can provide Fairtrade products and the kind of support these retailers need for doing so, while about three-quarter of all the companies in the Netherlands are SME2. Although Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in SMEs has been assessed before (Hoevenagel, 2004), it has not been done in relation to the provision of Fairtrade products in local food, non-food and catering sectors, whereas these sectors consist for nearly a quarter of the SMEs in the Netherlands3. Besides, Taplin (2009) investigated the impact of FTTs and recommends to assess the effect of the FTT campaign on companies either in a certain region or country. Via a case study (see chapter three on the research design) this research focuses on entrepreneurs in municipalities: on retailers in FTTs. 1.2 Problem description

The supply chain of Fairtrade products has been assessed for several of its aspects: several studies identified the impact of the Fairtrade label on the producers, the sales rates of the Fairtrade products and the type of customers that buy these products. However, the central position of retailers in this supply chain has never been assessed for Fairtrade, while these retailers are operating at a crucial point in the supply chain of Fairtrade products. Therefore it would be interesting to inventorise strategies that retailers apply to offer these products. Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies for the provision of sustainable products have been identified by Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009). The question rises to which extent these strategies can be identified for the provision of Fairtrade products, or more in general: which entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products can be identified. Retailers are embedded in the supply chain of products, hence they are dependent on the delivery of products by their suppliers. Retailers are not able to always get the products they want, therefore they can use help of external agents who facilitate and stimulate the provision of Fairtrade by focussing on aspects that are both directly and indirectly related to the provision of products in stores. 1.3 Research objective

The aim of this research is to present an overview of provider strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products that are applied by Dutch retailers with SMEs in the food, non-food and catering sector. The research will analyze which strategies are applied by retailers, bearing in mind the different enabling and constraining factors that are related to the provision of Fairtrade products. The strategies are used to give recommendations for supportive agents, like the FTT teams, on the kind of support retailers need for the provision of Fairtrade products.

By definition SMEs consists of maximum 249 employees (EC, 2010). Of the 1.090.100 Dutch enterprises, 847.100 are SME (KvK, 2007; Ondernemerschap, 2011).
3

Of the 847.100 SMEs in the Netherlands, 77.600 are food and non-food companies and 37.500 operate in the catering sector (Ondernemerschap, 2011).

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1.4

Research questions

The main research question: Which entrepreneurial strategies can be identified for the provision of Fairtrade products in the food, non-food and catering sectors in Dutch SMEs in existing and emergent Fairtrade Towns, and what kind of support is needed to successfully increase the provision of these products? Sub research questions: 1. Which entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products can be observed in stores in the food, non-food and catering sectors in Dutch SMEs in existing and emergent Fairtrade Towns? 2. Which factors enable or constrain retailers to apply the observed entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products? 3. What kind of support can be given to the retailers in order to successfully increase the provision of Fairtrade products in their stores? 1.5 Outline of the thesis report

The theoretical background of this thesis is described in chapter two and is based on the Structuration Theory of Anthony Giddens (1984). Spaargaren (2003) used this theory to create the Social Practices Model. This model functions as a framework for the identification of provider strategies for the provision of sustainable products. These provider strategies are used to compose strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products. Chapter three describes the research design and method and explains how data about the entrepreneurial strategies is collected and analyzed. Chapters four, five and six offer an overview of the results of this thesis. Chapter four shows the strategies that are observed by Dutch retailers who successfully provide Fairtrade products in existing FTTs. Chapter five presents the results of the interviews with a variety of experts who are experienced with and knowledgeable of the FTT campaign and retail. The focus in this chapter is on how the experts think the retailers should be supported to increase the provision of Fairtrade products. In the sixth chapter the case study about emergent FTT Renkum is presented. Chapter seven of this thesis report presents the conclusions that are drawn by answering the research questions. It also reflects on the implications of this research and the provision of Fairtrade products via an overview of the main points of discussion and recommendations. Recommendations on how to support the retailers and topics for further research are given as well.

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Conceptual framework

In this third chapter theories and concepts as existing in scientific sociological literature are presented. These concepts provide an outline of possible kinds of strategies as applied today by retailers who offer products or services for customers. This conceptual framework can be used to get insight in the scope of the observed entrepreneurial strategies. 2.1 2.1.1 Sustainable consumption and entrepreneurship The emergence of the concept sustainable development

Since the late 1980s the report Our Common Future (WCED, 1987) was a strong stimulant for debates about the condition of the environment. The authors recognized that the environmental crisis was a crisis of over-production and over-consumption mainly in the Northern countries, and under-production and under-consumption in mainly Southern countries. The authors state that this would lead to an untenable situation which would result in for example poverty and environmental damage: A world in which poverty is endemic will always be prone to ecological and other catastrophes (WCED, 1987: From One Earth to One World, point 27). Therefore the concept sustainable development has been introduced, and the report of the WCED included the first attempt to define this concept. The widely quoted definition states that: Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). The needs of people in all countries, at all times are the main focus for development, and the economy and society should change with the help of governmental organizations and NGOs who set limits or enhance situations where the natural environment has the ability to meet those needs. Sustainability often is explained by referring to three pillars being the basis of the concept: development should be socially acceptable, it should not harm the natural environment and it has to lead to an economically feasible situation as well. 2.1.2 Sustainable entrepreneurship

The notion that sustainable development not only meant that the environment or poor people should be protected, but that it acknowledged the importance of economic and commercial feasibility, attracted market actors to include sustainability in their practices. Industries and businesses steadily included environmental measurements and policies in their practices (e.g. Life Cycle Assessments, Environmental Management Systems). Besides, an increasing awareness of the impact of production on the environment and on peoples lives resulted in ethical or political consumption. Within political consumerism the law of supply and demand4 can be observed as well: a small group of political
4

Supply and demand tend to result in equilibrium (Smith, 1962).

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consumers slowly created a demand for products that are produced in a sustainable manner. In reply to an increasing demand for these products, stimulated by governments (e.g. subsidies for renewable energy, the initiative for sustainable procurement) sustainability receives increasingly more attention in the society and steadily becomes an operational concept within companies. Currently the environmental pressure at the end-use phase of a product contributes to about one third of a products total pressure, and can be tackled when aiming for a reduction of the environmental impact of production (Huber, 2004). Besides, the proportion of consumer related environmental impacts are increasing in nearly all OECD-countries. Consumption is perceived to be very strongly connected to environmental impacts (Vringer et al., 2001). Besides the environmental impact, the economic situation has its impact on peoples lives as well, especially in developing countries. People try to beat the negative social and economic impacts of consumption with ethical trade, for instance by producing products that comply with ethical standards like Fairtrade (see appendix I). Fairtrade stimulates the export of products from developing countries to developed countries. Besides it stimulates environmental friendly production practices (Nelson and Pound, 2010). The Fairtrade market is rapidly growing (Krier, 2008; NCDO, 2010; Max Havelaar, 2011; Moore, 2004). For the development and provision of Fairtrade products, or sustainable products in general, the behavior of companies is an important factor. The supply of sustainable products depends mostly on the behavior of so-called committed or pro-active providers (Robins and Humphrey 2000; Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009). These pro-active providers are challenged by governmental regulations and societal trends and pressures, therefore the providers try to create markets for new products and services. 2.1.3 The Theory of Social Practices

Focussing on moral strategies that aim to raise awareness amongst consumers about the negative environmental and socio-economic impact of their consumption practices is no longer perceived to result in change that is aimed for at the level of these everyday practices of consumption (Van Koppen, 2005). According to Spaargaren (2003) the impact of consumption practices can best be studied, and targeted for environmental governance, at the level of these practices. This is done to focus in a holistic way on environmental impacts of a persons daily life, instead of only raising awareness of the customers about the impact of the products they buy, or improving production practices in an environmental friendly way. The basis for this observation is the Structuration Theory of Anthony Giddens (1984), which explains how social structures (material and organizational rules and resources) and individual human action continuously constrain each other in a reflexive way. From this theory the Theory of Social Practices is derived, which states that social practices are embedded in the life styles of human agents who exert (routinized) behaviour and in the system of provision with its particular structure (visualized in figure 2) (Spaargaren, 2003; Spaargaren et al., 2006). The Theory of Social Practices offers insight in the actual human behaviour that through its norms and values is connected to structural settings.

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Figure 2: A visual representation of the Theory of Social Practices: the Social Practices model (following: Spaargaren, 2003; Spaargaren et al., 2006).

The Theory of Social Practices can be used to analyse processes with certain desired or unwanted environmental, social or economic impacts, for instance the negative impacts of daily routines and consumption in the context of provision systems (Spaargaren, 2003). When using consumption and production to explain the Social Practices model, the customers can be perceived the actors, who exert their human behaviour via social practices, for instance by shopping; the customer buys products from the retailer. Product preferences of the customers are based on their lifestyle, the lifestyles of the actors. The place where retailers (providers) acquire the products they offer is the system of provision. The system of provision is embedded in a structural setting of raw materials and supply chains. The space where products are transferred from the retailer to the customer can be considered to be the consumption junction. The consumption junction is the place where consumers and providers meet (Schwartz-Cowan, 1989). For successful integration of the sustainable alternatives offered to replace the current harmful consumption patterns, these alternatives have to fit into the existing social practices and lifestyles of the consumers (Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009). Therefore it is interesting to study the fit and misfit (or: enabling and constraining factors) of the provided sustainable consumption alternatives within the social practices. The level of fits and misfits are important challenges to consider for sustainable consumption practices that are made available by certain providers at the consumption junction (Oosterveer et al., 2007; Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009). This notion is the basis of this 17

research: to identify entrepreneurial strategies and their related enabling and constraining factors for the provision of Fairtrade products. Fairtrade products are labeled with the Fairtrade label and, because of the requirements of this label, considered to be a sustainable product. 2.1.4 Generating trust at the consumption junction

Customers aim for trust when shopping (Giddens, 1984). Trust is generated by routinization of repeated activities that are related to the social practices. For shopping practices that are repeated this is generated by the image of a company and the kind of information it provides. The practices are executed by an actor, hence happening in the proximity of this person. When applying this course of events to shopping, it can be observed at shopping floors of retailers: familiarization of the customers with products via repetitive provision of information and products, contributes to repeated purchases and rising sales rates of these products. The same applied for Fairtrade products: repeated purchases occur since customers tend to make decisions based on categories: things they have done before will be repeated (Thgersen, 2002). 2.2 Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies

The extent to which providers implement sustainability in their practices depends on whether and how it is included in their entrepreneurial strategy. In general, a strategy presents the way an entrepreneur wants to reach the goal he has in mind for his company. The strategy is determined by the mission (raison dtre) and vision (ambitions and policies) of the company, and leads to an overview of tactics: how and with whom the company is organized (Kaplan and Norton, 2008). Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009) identified Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies for the provision of sustainable products. These strategies are identified through research in supermarkets and assessing consumer learning processes and a campaign of a large retail organization (Spaargaren, 2011). The aim to include sustainability in the practices of a retailer and the way he can make consumption practices more sustainable, or green, depends on the intensity of the consumer-oriented strategy of a provider (table 1). These strategies range from No environmental product strategies to Sustainable production and consumption strategies. The latter (number 4 in table 1) is the most extensive consumer-oriented strategy, in which a company improves the environmental impact of the life cycle of a product; provides information about a products environmental performances to consumers and; provides images and narratives about how citizens can engage in sustainability, where citizen-consumers and their organizations are seen as partners in a sustainability dialogue (Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009 p. 91).

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Table 1: Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies (Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009). Improving environmental performance Improvement of production processes (indirect product performance) only Improvement of direct and indirect product performance Improvement of direct and indirect product performance Improvement of direct and indirect product performance and promotion of sustainable practices Providing information to consumers No or incidental consumer oriented information flows No or incidental consumer oriented information flows Information on product performance (eco-label) and product strategy Information on product performance and strategy and on consumer-related sustainable practices Presenting images and narratives to consumers No or incidental presentation of images and narratives No or incidental presentation of images and narratives Green images and narratives oriented to product groups Images and narratives oriented to product groups and to sustainable citizenship

Dimension level 1. No environmental product strategies Consumer-silent product strategies Green product strategies Sustainable production and consumption strategies

2.

3.

4.

Retailers can engage in sustainable development through a consumer orientation by (Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009): focusing on the sustainability of products and the related production and consumption processes: this is a consumer orientation regarding sustainable products and production processes. communicating the efforts of a transition towards more sustainability in a company, and make these efforts actively visible (e.g. with the help of labels): this is a consumer orientation on how to present the information. Actively engage in sustainability initiatives beyond the gate of the company. In other words, engage in sustainability to contribute to a more sustainable society: the images and narratives that retailers communicate towards the consumers are a retailers sense of sustainability, considered to be socio-cultural symbols (e.g. buying Fairtrade products to reduce child labor in the textile industry). Consumer concerns can be translated into narratives about sustainable development. The priority and specificity of the narratives and images that are attached to products with a sustainable orientation differ per product domain (Spaargaren and Van Koppen, 2009). For Fairtrade chocolate the emphasis is on a fair price for the grower and his family and on environmental impacts by reduced use of agrochemicals. For Fairtrade clothing it is on child labor. While the focus of a restaurant can be expected to be more on the quality and good taste of a product instead of its Fairtrade aspects. A retailer who provides Fairtrade products can present his store and the products he offers with the help of these 19

narratives in order to get fruitful attention from the consumers he is looking for. Drawing the attention to a product with the help of these narratives emphasizes the unique difference of that product compared to another product. It is known as a Unique Selling Point (USP). Improvement of the environmental product performance (see third column in table 1) is not carried out by the providers (retailers) of Fairtrade products. For Fairtrade products this kind of improvement refers to the Fairtrade standards (see appendix I) which are applied at the production stage by complying with these standards. 2.3 Conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies

The composition of entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products is based on the Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies as described by Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009) (table 1) and the way these products can be provided in stores. The strategies range from zero compliance to the reflection of total integrity related to sustainability of a company. The conceptual strategies, called: conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies, are: 1. No Fairtrade Strategy: Retailers do not provide Fairtrade products, since the retailers are ignorant, impossible or unwilling to do so. Fairtrade is perceived not adding value to a companys image and/or sales opportunities. This strategy is inspired by the No Environmental Product. Sales Strategy: Fairtrade products are provided as a category of an assortment that consists of sustainable products and conventional products. The company welcomes consumers that are looking for sustainable products, next to consumers that are not. The Fairtrade products are not provided based on a business wide strategy of aiming for sustainability, but because of fulfilling needs of the customers or publicity opportunities. The Fairtrade label is visible on the products on the shelve and the retailers incidentally or discretely communicate about Fairtrade. This strategy coincides with the Consumer-silent Product Strategy and a modest version of the Green Product Strategy. Store strategy: Fairtrade products are provided in an assortment that consists of sustainable and conventional products. The company is eager to engage in sustainability initiatives that link with the overall strategy of the company. Such a company wants to attract (more) costumers that are interested in sustainable products and services, and provide them with information they are looking for. These kinds of companies consider themselves dependent on the societal trend of sustainable development for continuation of their business. The Fairtrade label is visible on the products on the shelves, and images and narratives about Fairtrade are shown. This strategy coincides with an ambitious version of the Green Product Strategy. Corporate Strategy: Fairtrade products are provided next to other sustainable products. The company is a good corporate citizen, where sustainability is at the heart of the companys mission. Choices made are based on this mission, which are communicated plenary, not only by providing information about the sustainable products, but also by making the consumers aware that these products are provided by a sustainable store. Consumers are considered to become sustainable citizens who deal with sustainable practices in their various life styles, and to

2.

3.

4.

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become partners in establishing the concept of sustainability. This strategy coincides with the Sustainable Production and Consumption Strategy. Several factors enable or constrain the applicability of Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies. These factors are described in the topic list that is presented in appendix II. The factors that are analysed in this research are inspired by marketing theories of Kotler and Keller (2006) and McCarthy (1978) and an article about providing and purchasing sustainable food in supermarkets which was written by Oosterveer et al. (2007). Based on the justification this research the focus of the factors that are investigated is mainly at the level of the retailer. Most of the factors are organizational by nature; they are related to marketing and the influence of how the supply chain is organized.

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Research design and methods

This research provides an inventory and analysis of entrepreneurial strategies of Dutch retailers who offer Fairtrade products in existing FTTs. It aims to understand entrepreneurial strategies as they are composed in the conceptual chapter. There is hardly any information about entrepreneurial strategies related to Fairtrade products, therefore the research has an explorative, qualitative character. The data are collected by conducting interviews. The data are analysed per topic that was dealt with during the interviews. Entrepreneurial strategies of retailers in existing FTTs and an emergent FTT have been collected. The emergent FTT is used as a case study and is compared to the strategies as they are observed in existing FTTs. Generally speaking; case studies are used for theoretical rather than statistical generalization (De Vaus, 2001). For this research emergent FTT Renkum is used as a case study. The identified entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products by retailers in the Renkum are compared to the strategies of retailers who successfully provide Fairtrade products in established FTTs. Based on this comparison recommendations are given on how retailers in emergent FTTs can be supported by for instance their FTT team in order to increase the number of Fairtrade products they provide. Only in Renkum retailers who do not provide Fairtrade products are included in the data collection, in order to identify the reasons for not providing Fairtrade products and opportunities for starting to do so. In this research Fairtrade products are regarded to be a part of a product assortment that consists of sustainable products (e.g. with the organic or UTZ Certified label, or product that are regionally produced). 3.1 Criteria for selecting the informants

The focus of this research on retailers in the food, non-food and catering sector was inspired by the third criterion of the FTT campaign. This is done since the aim of this research is to identify the strategies that are applied by the retailers to provide Fairtrade products. The interviewees, who are regarded as informants, are: 1. Members of Dutch FTT teams. 2. Retailers working in SMEs (selected according to FTT campaign criterion 3). a. In existing FTTs: retailers in food, non-food and catering sector who offer Fairtrade products (ranging from a few to many). b. In Renkum: retailers in food, non-food and catering sector who offer Fairtrade products (ranging from a few to many) and retailers who do not provide Fairtrade products. 3. FTT and retail experts, business associations. The choice for focusing on the Netherlands only was done because then the governmental environment for each interviewee would be the same. It would also reduce the impact of differences in variables like 22

legislation and the economic situation on the results. Based on the justification of the research, as elaborated on in paragraph 1.1, only retailers in SMEs are included for data collection. Therefore the World Shops5 are not interviewed, since these stores are not operated by retailers but by volunteers who are supported by an association6. In total thirty-three informants are interviewed (see appendix IV). Three of the interviewees are FTT teams. In these municipalities fifteen retailers are interviewed. In Renkum eight retailers are interviewed. The other seven interviewees are business associations and FTT or retail experts. The experts are selected based on their link with the FTT campaign and their retail expertise. The retailers who run their business in current FTTs are selected in a way that the three sectors (food, non-food and catering) are all included in the interviews. This was the first attempt to classify the retailers, and was based on information acquired during the first contact moments with the interviewees. This information was obtained by visiting the website of the company and the website of the FTTs on which the retailers are indicated. It was also based on telephone conversations with the potential interviewees. In other words: the conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies as composed in chapter two are used as a frame to select the interviewees in such a way that each sector and strategy was addressed during the process of data collection. The following types of retailers are interviewed per sector, both in existing FTTs and emergent FTT Renkum: Food sector: food specialists, (organic) supermarkets and a wholesaler. Non-food sector: clothing and gift stores and a wholesaler. Catering sector: restaurants, coffee and snack corners and a wholesaler. In each FTTs that this researched focused on, not all sectors are covered by interviewing the retailers. The main criterion for the selecting retailers (by consulting their website or calling them to collect information) in existing FTTs and in Renkum was the extent to which these retailers are providing Fairtrade products (ranging from: only offering it next to other products till Fairtrade as an aspect of the corporate mission). For the case study the same criteria for the selection of the interviewees are used. Besides, retailers who did not provide Fairtrade products are also interviewed in Renkum. This was done to find out why these retailers did not provide these products, and whether there is room for manoeuvre to let them start providing Fairtrade products. The selection of retailers who are interviewed in Renkum was based on the ratio of their presence of their enterprises in the municipality. The retail and FTT experts are selected based on their link with and perceived knowledge about the provision of Fairtrade products in stores of retailers (also by consulting their website or calling them to collect information). The number of experts and retailers that are selected for data collection is determined by a so-called saturation level: a few more interviews are conducted with retailers and experts after the point hardly any new information was gathered from the interviews with them.

5 6

World Shops are charity stores where on purpose only Fairtrade products are provided. FaiRSupport, www.fair-support.nl.

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3.2

The interview

For this research the interview was used as the method for data collection. With an interview one can measure what interviewees say they are doing and the kind of relations they have. Therefore it is a useful instrument for data collection in this qualitative research with an explorative character. Other qualitative research methods are for instance participant observation and field notes (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). Participant observation is not used, since it is more suitable for anthropological research. Field notes could have been used as well, but for reasons of verification of the collected data, the information is gathered with the help of a voice recorder. A few field notes are included in this report and are made explicit in footnotes. Based on the identification of conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies a topic list was created. A topic list is a common tool to conduct interviews and guides the interviewer to ensure all the topics he wants to discuss are dealt with. For this research the topic list was used to obtain information via interviews with retailers and FTT and retail experts. For each interview the same topic list was used, also for emergent FTT Renkum (the case study). The topic list, as presented in appendix II, was used to collect the data. The interviews are semi-structured: partly structured with the help of the topic list, and partly unstructured, creating space to include spontaneously emerging topics in the subsequent interviews. Although data collection and analysis was an iterative process, new topics did not emerge. Therefore the topic list was not adapted during the interviews. The potential interviewees are contacted as described in the previous paragraph. The interviewees are informed about the interview, by e-mail or telephone and at least a few days before, to present the research objective and the main interview topics to be discussed. The exact topic list that was used during the interview was not shown beforehand, in order to safeguard semi-spontaneous reactions for the interview. Permission about voice recording and quoting was asked for. The researcher explained how the information obtained via the interviews is used for analysis and how the results will be presented. Topics and quotes used for analysis of the data are presented anonymous in terms of names. The type of retailer and expertise of the expert are used instead. The interviewed FTT teams are numbered. For reasons of confidentiality, the transcripts of the interviews are only accessible and available for the researcher. The proposed research is not a longitudinal study. Therefore the sources are consulted only once, except for emerging questions after an interview. The interviewee was asked to be willing answering questions that emerged at the researcher after conduction of the interview, e.g. by telephone or e-mail. For reasons of scientific objectivity and a reduction of interference with the research, no adversarial processes with the interviewees took place after conducting the interviews. Upon request of the interviewees the results of the research are made available by sending an e-mail them that the thesis report is available at the website of the Wageningen UR Science Shop7.

Website Wageningen UR Science Shop: http://www.wetenschapswinkel.wur.nl/NL/projecten/projecten_2011/ fairtrade_gemeente_renkum/

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3.3

Data analysis and interpretation

The results of the interviews with the retailers (chapters four and six) are classified in three retail sectors: food, non-food and catering. This classification was made prior to the data collection (see chapter 1). After conducting the interviews it was observed that this type of division was still valid. With the help of this classification the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are sorted in such a way that either the retail sectors or the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are not grouped all together. A division based on whether the retailer is the owner of one or more companies (an entrepreneur) or a franchisee leads to the same division of strategies and this classification provides a balance between too little and too much distinction between the interviewed retailers. The classifications could also be based on for instance the number of suppliers the retailer has, the number of employees of the company or the extent to which they communicate about the fact that they provide Fairtrade products. However, all these classifications resulted in an overview with at least three strategies or types of companies per category.

The description of the observed entrepreneurial strategies in the results chapters is illustrated with the corresponding observed factors, as the strategies are extracted from the observed factors. The information of the interviews is systematically compared per topic (and related factor) of the interview. The recorded interviews are nearly literally transcribed in Dutch. The transcripts are summarized and ordered based on the topics that are discussed during the interviews. The summary was translated into English. The topic list used for the interview was used as a guide to classify/categorize the analysed data. The interviews are compared per topic (see previous paragraph) with the help of story lines and recurrent themes. With help of the description of the observed factors (the topics) and the conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies as described in chapter two, the entrepreneurial strategies are extracted. These results are presented in chapters four and six, in which the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are described per retail sector. The strategies are explained via this condensed version of the topic list:
Product - The type of provided Fairtrade products, the target group of the retailer and the provision of Fairtrade products in relation to sustainable and conventional products. Place - The place where the products are presented to the customers and the reason behind. Price - The (impact of the) price of the Fairtrade products compared to other products that are provided as well. Promotion - Types and impact of communication about Fairtrade and the label on the products. Supply - The provision of Fairtrade products by the suppliers of the retailers. Support - Support that supportive agents can give to retailers in order to successfully increase the provision of Fairtrade products in their stores.

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Since this is the first time that research in this field is conducted, the conceptual chapter merely functions as a starting point or frame to collect and identify strategies that are currently applied by retailers who offer Fairtrade products. In this research the theory is not tested. Quotes of the interviews are provided in this report when they reflect the results better than a summary of the interviews only. The internal validity of the research is guaranteed by triangulation of information sources and methods in order to verify the obtained data and to draw valid conclusions from these data. Scientific literature and non-scientific texts are studied and used for the analysis of the obtained data.

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Results I: Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies in three Dutch retail sectors

In the Netherlands currently sixteen municipalities reached the status of a Fairtrade Town. For reaching this status they had to comply with the criteria as mentioned in chapter one. The third criterion is related to retailers who sell Fairtrade products in their stores. The number of retailers and the amount and variety of products they need to offer depends on the size of the municipality and is described in the FTT manual (Fairtradegemeenten, 2011). In the existing FTTs many retailers successfully provide Fairtrade products. Some of these retailers are interviewed for this research. The results of these interviews are presented in this chapter. In the conceptual chapter (chapter two) four Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are composed and reflect the ways these products can be offered. The strategies are the No Fairtrade, Sales, Store and Corporate Strategy in which the provision of Fairtrade products ranges from none to a situation in which Fairtrade products are an aspect of the sustainable store. Those conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are used as a guide to identify the strategies that retailers in existing FTTs currently apply to provide the Fairtrade products. This chapter presents the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade strategies and corresponding factors that enable and constrain retailers in existing FTTs to provide the Fairtrade products with that particular strategy. Some factors for provision of Fairtrade products are observed at each retailer in each sector in existing FTTs. These results are presented in paragraph 4.1. The other paragraphs present the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies and factors per consulted retail sector. These results are explained with the help of the factors Products - Place - Price - Promotion Supply and Support. In the last paragraph the conclusions are drawn for the Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies and accompanying enabling and constraining factors in existing FTTs. It also presents a number of subjects that indicate how to support retailers to increase the number of Fairtrade products in their stores. 4.1 Observed factors for the provision of Fairtrade products that apply to each sector in Dutch Fairtrade Towns

The sales of Fairtrade products is enabled or constrained by certain factors. In the theoretical chapter and appendix II the main factors are presented. All these factors have been observed at the retailers. The observed factors that are presented in this paragraph apply to each retailer. Factors that are specific for a sector are presented in the paragraphs that present the results of that particular sector. 4.1.1 Criteria of customers and retailers to choose for Fairtrade products

According to the retailers, sales rates of Fairtrade products rise. The sales rates are still small, but will increase and will spread like a wild fire (cinema caf; catering association; clothing store 1; coffee & ice cream store; wholesaler 1 and 3). Sales rates of Fairtrade products are growing, since to customers 27

buying Fairtrade becomes attractive. The provision of Fairtrade and other kinds of sustainable products is perceived to be an irreversible trend. Some retailers mention sustainability to become a standard aspect of production. According to the retailers, customers perceive the Fairtrade label attached to a product as an asset. Therefore, Fairtrade is not the main incentive for customers when it comes to product choice. Retailers state that decisive factors for customers to choose for Fairtrade products are the price and quality, like appearance and taste, of a product. Therefore the choice of retailers to provide Fairtrade products is based on quality and price aspects of the products as well, since customer satisfaction is the primary focus of the retailers (clothing store 2; gift shop 2; supermarket 1 and 2; wholesaler 1). So, in nearly each sector the provision of Fairtrade products is limited by the number and quality level of these products offered by the suppliers. 4.1.2 The image of Fairtrade products

Contrary to what is mentioned by Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009, p. 92) the provision of sustainable products among the conventional assortment does, according to nearly all interviewed retailers, not negatively influence the conventional assortment: the provided Fairtrade products do not evoke negative reactions of the customers and these products are appreciated to complement the assortment. Usually the negative hippie image is no longer attached to Fairtrade. Fairtrade does not have negative connotations anymore and the label is expected to be known by the consumers. Some retailers are still a little afraid that the prejudices are unintentionally evoked. Therefore, at first glance they do not communicate about Fairtrade in their store (clothing store 1; restaurant 2). However, they do communicate about Fairtrade in their store when they realize that it actually is an aspect of sustainability. Like nearly all other retailers they use Fairtrade for marketing purposes and, referring to the societal trend, present themselves as being involved in sustainable production. 4.1.3 The place of the Fairtrade label and concept in the stores

The Fairtrade label is always attached to the Fairtrade products and appreciated by retailers for its high brand awareness amongst customers. This is achieved by work which has been carried out over the last 15-20 years. Drawing attention to the Fairtrade products can be done by showing the product to customers, since at the front side of the product package the Fairtrade label is printed. Usually the Fairtrade label is shown in a large, full colour version. Sometimes the label is printed in a small, blackand-white version. The retailers in the food and non-food sector expect customers to be acquainted with the Fairtrade concept. Some retailers in the catering sector explain the concept and experience surprised reactions of customers when getting informed (restaurant 1). However, the customers hardly ever ask for Fairtrade products in the stores. Most retailers and staff do not instantly provide the customers with an explanation about the background of Fairtrade, although upon request of the customer they can. The retailers and nearly all staff members are able to explain the Fairtrade principles, and this is due to a persons common knowledge or training by the company. In the smaller business like in the non-food and catering sector the staff and retailer know about the Fairtrade principles. In supermarkets not all staff members can be expected to be able to do so. The owners and managers do, but many of their employees are youngsters and they are not always familiar with the 28

Fairtrade principles. Therefore, customers with specific questions related to Fairtrade can be directed by the staff members to the floor manager or owner of the store. 4.1.4 The place of Fairtrade products in the stores

In case Fairtrade products are provided in stores where other sustainable products and conventional products are offered as well, they are provided mingled with the other products, and placed next to products of the same category. For instance Fairtrade coffee is provided next to coffee without a Fairtrade label. Fairtrade products are provided increasingly closer to the place where people automatically grab for products: at eye level. In other words: the Fairtrade products are provided closer to the mainstream place where products are offered. This works best in terms of sales rates of Fairtrade products: by doing so the retailers facilitate consumers to choose for Fairtrade products, since consumers have behaviour which is quite routinely and mainly pick products from places where they are easily available. Repeatedly providing Fairtrade products on the shelves, mingled with other products, results in familiarisation of the consumer in favour of customer choice for Fairtrade products. Fairtrade products presented in a single shelve results in loss of a consumers attention for Fairtrade products; the consumer will forget about the Fairtrade products when he continues shopping (supermarket 1 and 2). 4.2 The food sector

In the food sector Fairtrade products are offered based on a trend where sustainability is about to become a normal aspect of production. Some retailers offer Fairtrade products next to sustainable products only. To them sustainability is not an emerging trend but a fundamental aspect of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial strategies observed in the food sector therefore coincide with the Sales Strategy and the Corporate Strategy that are both presented in this paragraph. 4.2.1 The Sales Strategy

The number of customers who are interested in sustainable products is increasing (retail expert). It is also observed that sales rates of Fairtrade products increased the last few years (supermarket 1 and 2; wholesaler 1): the number of home brands with the Fairtrade label in supermarkets is increasing as well. Major premium brands like Verkade (chocolate) and Douwe Egberts (coffee) offer certified Fairtrade products as well (Oxfam Novib, 2011; Max Havelaar, 2010). This increase is based on a societal trend in which the civil society increasingly calls for sustainable corporate behavior. Not meeting the needs related to this trend threatens the corporate image and can result in a bad image, since customers increasingly prefer companies to pay attention to sustainability. This means that customers not necessarily buy sustainable products, but do appreciate the possibility of choosing for instance between Fairtrade labeled products and non-labeled products when visiting a store. This trend results in the notion where sustainability becomes a License to Operate: proper social and environmental impacts of a product and related production methods become standard product aspects (retail expert; supermarket 2; wholesaler 1).

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Retailers who apply the Sales Strategy offer Fairtrade and other sustainable products next to conventional products (see textbox 1 for a typical way how a supermarket that applied the Sales Strategy offered Fairtrade products). They do so for commercial reasons (i.e. Fairtrade products are provided when doing so is profitable), although they are also inspired by dynamics in the society related to sustainable production and they are in favor of sustainable production methods (supermarket 1 and 2).
Textbox 1 - Fairtrade products in a supermarket with help of the Sales Strategy

The supermarket offers Fairtrade products via premium brands and the private label (home brands). The full-color version of the Fairtrade label is attached to the premium brands and a black and white version of the label is attached to the private label products. The Fairtrade products are offered at eye-level of the customers, mingled in the shelves next to similar nonFairtrade products. The Fairtrade products are also presented in separate shelves in the traffic of the supermarket. These products are not emphasized, they are offered in a way they naturally belong in the store, like the non-Fairtrade products. Fairtrade has not been emphasized at the shopping floor with help of posters etc. The FTT-sticker is attached to the facade. At the website Fairtrade and other sustainable aspects of the products offered in the store are explained.

Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Sales Strategy in the food sector in the Netherlands: Product - Based on the aforementioned societal trend, Fairtrade products are included in the assortment of Dutch supermarkets. Fairtrade products that are sold most are coffee, chocolate and fruit. In supermarket 2 the limit of providing Fairtrade food and non-food products is reached: Fairtrade has a share of 0,8% of the total turnover. Offering more Fairtrade products in this supermarket will not be profitable. Place - As explained in the first paragraph the products are provided mingled in the shelves, closer to the place where customers most frequently take the products. Mainstreaming Fairtrade products is also induced when these products are offered at the so called traffic (in a separate shelve in the isles) of stores, which is mainly done for special offers of the products. The effect of offering Fairtrade products in both the regular shelves and at the traffic is two-fold: repeated encounters with the Fairtrade product results in familiarization of the consumer to choose for Fairtrade and it convinces the consumer that this retailer is the best in offering Fairtrade products (supermarket 2; wholesaler 1). Some retailers decide by themselves how and where they offer the Fairtrade products (supermarket 2; retail expert). Another retailer states that he is not able to do so because of the pre-selected layout of the shelves. He states he also better not does so because of uniformity of the shelves at the shopping floor (for explanation see: Promotion) (supermarket 1). Price - It is observed that price differences between Fairtrade and conventional products become smaller. The difference in price of Fairtrade and conventional food products is an important aspect of product choice for both consumers and retailers, in which a difference of at maximum ten per cent is accepted. Sometimes the margins are adapted in favor of the consumers, since Dutch customers are very keen on a low price for the products they buy. Therefore the provision of Fairtrade products by 30

retailers with the Sales Strategy is determined by the commercial approach towards offering products (retail expert; wholesaler 1). Promotion - Although sales rates of Fairtrade products increased, purchasing Fairtrade products is not yet an automatism of the consumer; it is still serves a small market. Therefore effort is needed to provide and sell Fairtrade products; otherwise consumer will lose their attention for Fairtrade8 (retail expert; supermarket 1 and 2). Some retailers offer Fairtrade products with the help of all kinds of promotion material. Large posters with images and the name Fairtrade are shown to the customers. The number and visibility of cards with Fairtrade on the shelves, Fairtrade posters in the store and separate shelves with Fairtrade products emphasize the customer the extent to which the store is involved with Fairtrade. In supermarkets there are many things that attract the attention of the customers, therefore promotional material for Fairtrade needs to be large otherwise it will not receive attention from the consumer (supermarket 2, wholesaler 1). Another aspect of promotion is the provision of information about the Fairtrade principle. Retailers communicate about Fairtrade via their website. Some retailers only mention the fact that Fairtrade and other sustainable products are offered in the store, others also explain the Fairtrade principles and other sustainable initiatives related to products that are provided in the store. One of the reasons why retailers can give an explanation about Fairtrade is the overview they have of the supply chain from producer till the shopping floor. Some retailers also learned about the Fairtrade principles during field trips where they visited producers. These field trips are held once a year, often to a country other than the Netherlands. They visit producers who work with conventional and sustainable production methods; hence they also visit producers who make the Fairtrade products. Some of the producers they visited are united in a cooperative. Such a cooperative is supported by for instance a financial fund of the supermarket organization (supermarket 1 and 2). Although the Fairtrade concept can be used to present a sustainable image to the customers, one retailer has reasons why to do so only in a discrete manner. Uniformity at the shopping floor he perceives important regarding the presentation of the products on the shelves. The Fairtrade label on the product packages is the only aspect of the Fairtrade concept visible for the customers. At the shopping floor of this retailer no images, posters or information about Fairtrade and its background are shown. Providing various images (e.g. posters, extra cards attached to shelves) about sustainable product choice is, from the perspective of the customers, perceived to be annoying. By focussing on uniformity the retailer acknowledges the preference of the consumers to just do their shopping, and not constantly being reminded about their good and ethical behaviour when buying the sustainable products (supermarket 1). Supply - Customers expect the same products in each store of a particular supermarket chain they visit. This expectation also holds for Fairtrade products, so Fairtrade products need to be available at the suppliers of the supermarket chains in large quantities (supermarket 1). Fairtrade products are, like all the other products offered, obtained via the central purchasing department of the supermarket organization. The purchasing department should be able to source large quantities of products. For Fairtrade products this is not yet possible, although the number of Fairtrade products sold at the outlets
8

Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009) confirm this observation, albeit for sustainable products in general and not specifically related to Fairtrade products.

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of the food retailers is increasing (supermarket 1 and 2; wholesaler 1). On the other hand, buying large quantities lowers the price of a product, which makes the Fairtrade product attractive to be sold in the supermarkets (wholesaler 1). Franchise retailers can compose up to twenty per cent of the assortment they offer by themselves. They can select products and suppliers themselves, so they have the opportunity to provide more Fairtrade products than selected for the assortment of the supermarket organization (retail expert; supermarket 2). Franchise retailers could request the provision of more Fairtrade products by the managing board. In reality it does not happen or the request is not been heard (retail expert; supermarket 1). The retailers who do not purchase extra Fairtrade products do so since they prefer the convenience of purchasing all the products at only one supplier. One retailer aimed to offer many Fairtrade products. He offered nearly all the products available from the Dutch wholesaler that offers Fairtrade products only. This retailer was able to provide even more and obtained Fairtrade products from a French supplier too. By doing so he owns the supermarket that offers the most Fairtrade products in Europe (supermarket 2). Support - Based on personal considerations retailers prefer Fairtrade and sustainable products, which is induced by the overview they have of the supply chain and the field trips they made (retail expert; supermarket 1 and 2). When deciding which product to offer at the shopping floor, some retailers mainly focus on commercial opportunities, and Fairtrade products are not the only product they consider to sell. These retailers mention that the low availability of Fairtrade products at the supplier limits them to provide those products (supermarket 1). Increasing the provision of Fairtrade products in supermarkets can be induced by stimulating the managing board of the supermarket chain to include more Fairtrade products in their assortment. At municipal level the FTT team can organize Fairtrade weeks in local supermarkets to pay attention for Fairtrade products (retail expert). One retailer states that the promotional material offered by the FTT campaign is too small for supermarkets. In his opinion this needs to be improved, since most of the Fairtrade products are sold in supermarkets (supermarket 2). 4.2.2 The Corporate Strategy

Sustainability is at the heart of the strategy for retailers applying the Corporate Strategy. These retailers consider sustainable alternatives in nearly each choice they make (in textbox 2 an example is given of how a retailer offered Fairtrade products by using the Corporate Strategy). In their opinion the Fairtrade principles are an important aspect of the trade-system they are involved in with their businesses. The retailers provide Fairtrade and other sustainable products based on personal commitment: they prefer to provide sustainable products with the Fairtrade label over non- Fairtrade sustainable products (food specialist 1; organic supermarket 1). One retailer is even involved in local initiatives that enhance sustainability in a broader sense (e.g. local currency to promote sales of local, sustainable products).

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Textbox 2 - Fairtrade products offered by a food specialist with help of the Corporate Strategy All the products produced by the food specialist consist of Fairtrade ingredients. The products are offered in show cases without the Fairtrade label attached to it. Large posters show the term Fairtrade Town, and a certificate shows that the retailer is involved in sustainable entrepreneurship. The customers can taste the products and get an explanation about the quality of the products and the sustainable aspects of it.

Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Corporate Strategy in the food sector in the Netherlands: Product - The major Fairtrade product groups offered by retailers are chocolate and fruit. The retailers target customers who prefer to buy products produced in a conscious way. The customers of these retailers are focused on both the sustainable impact of the product and the quality of the product, like appearance and taste (food specialist 1; organic supermarket 1). The retailers select products that meet these criteria, since offering those products enhances customer satisfaction. Place - In the organic supermarket the Fairtrade products are provided on the shelves at eye level, and mingled with the other products. The Fairtrade products offered by the food specialist are provided in each shelve and showcase, since each product offered consists of Fairtrade raw materials. Price - Sales rates of the food specialist grew in the past few years. However, to the majority of his customers who buy products of the same category elsewhere, the perceived price level seems to be more important than the quality level of the products offered. The prices are a little higher than conventional products, which is mainly because the products consist of ingredients which are of higher quality. In some cases the products of the food specialists are cheaper than similar products offered by well-known large brands (food specialist 1). The prices of Fairtrade products in the organic store are a little higher than the non-Fairtrade products. However, for ideological reasons the retailer of the organic store prefers to sell Fairtrade products over the non- Fairtrade variant. Therefore the Fairtrade products are placed at eyelevel on the shelves. Many customers grab products from that position in the store, although they also prefer the cheaper products (organic supermarket 1). Promotion - The Fairtrade products offered by retailers with a Corporate Strategy get a prominent place in the store and receive extra attention. Images like posters, stickers and certificates referring to sustainable entrepreneurship are shown in the store. The Fairtrade label is not attached to the products produced by the food specialist, because the retailer needs to be certified for showing the label on products made from Fairtrade raw materials. Consumers get the chance to taste the food products, since only giving an explanation about the product properties (both on product quality and sustainability aspects) does not convince the consumer enough (food specialist 1). The organic store provides information about their business philosophy and the sustainable products via their website. Besides the Fairtrade label on the products no other forms of promotion are shown to the customer. They do so since Fairtrade is not the main incentive to offer products in this store. Customers are expected to be familiar with the Fairtrade label and principle, although it might not always be exactly clear for them what Fairtrade and other sustainable labels encompass (organic supermarket 1). Supply - The food specialist is not limited by the Fairtrade food products available at the wholesaler. This retailer easily obtains the quantities and quality of the Fairtrade product he wants to 33

sell (food specialist 1). Fairtrade products that meet the preferred continuity of supply, quantity and quality level are not always available for the organic supermarket. Decisions about the assortment are made at the headquarters of the supermarket organization. Requests of the franchise retailers to increase the level of Fairtrade products offered at the shopping floor are seldom heard; the managing board prefers to act instead of react when composing the product assortment. In other words: the managing board deals with issues that cover a longer time span. Therefore, increasing the number of Fairtrade products offered in the organic store will not happen overnight (organic supermarket 1). Support - There are two items that, according to retailers with the Corporate Strategy, need to be changed in order to increase the attention of customers. First, the FTT window sticker, provided to retailers who meet the criteria FTT campaign, is too small. Second, the number of sustainable labels, including competitive Fairtrade labels with their unique requirements, confuses the customers (food specialist 1; organic supermarket 1). One retailer has joined a group of retailers who are focused on sustainability. During meetings they exchange experience about running a sustainable business (food specialist 1). 4.3 The non-food sector

In the non-food sector also the entrepreneurial strategies that coincide with the Sales Strategy and the Corporate Strategy are observed. The retailers in the non-food sector expect the customer to be familiar with the Fairtrade concept, based on awareness arising which has been done during the years before. 4.3.1 The Sales Strategy

The retailers observed an increase in the provision of Fairtrade and other sustainable products during the last few years. Sustainability in general is perceived to be an irreversible trend in the market (clothing store 2; gift shop 2). Related to this the retailers also observe an increasing awareness and need among customers to buy sustainable products. To retailers who apply the Sales Strategy, sustainability is therefore an important aspect when deciding which products to offer in their stores, although Fairtrade is hardly emphasized in the store. Customer satisfaction first of all is enhanced by the quality of the product, therefore its Fairtrade aspects are hardly promoted (see textbox 3 for a typical example of a non-food store in which the Sales Strategy is applied). The retailers observe that mainstream markets, like warehouses, start to offer Fairtrade products of the same category as they provide (clothing store 2; gift shop 2).
Textbox 3 - Fairtrade products offered in a clothing store with help of the Sales Strategy In this store the Fairtrade clothing is mingled with non-Fairtrade clothing, sorted per brand and color. Fairtrade is mentioned at a label attached to the products and the FTT-sticker attached to the window of the entrance. Fairtrade is only mentioned in the store with help of a few folders about the Fairtrade clothing. Providing products that enhance customer satisfaction are the main focus of the retailer. That means that the fit and quality is important over the Fairtrade aspects of the clothing. Therefore the latter is not actively mentioned towards the customers by the retailer.

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Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Sales Strategy in the non-food sector in the Netherlands: Product The most important Fairtrade non-food products that are offered in these stores are clothing and gifts. The Fairtrade aspect of the products appeals not to all clients, and some consider it too expensive. Place - The Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade products in these stores are grouped based on the brand or product type, not on their Fairtrade features. Price - The prices of the sustainable products are a little higher than the conventional ones. Margins of the sustainable products in this sector with the Sales Strategy are not equalized with the prices of conventional products, since most of the Fairtrade products are offered in to customers in the middle segment of purchasing power. Most of the products are not considered too expensive by the customers (clothing store 2; gift shop 2). Promotion - The retailers provide Fairtrade products without giving much attention to their sustainable features. Hardly any communication refers to the Fairtrade aspects of the products. Information, images and narratives about Fairtrade are not or hardly ever provided in the stores. Occasionally a few flyers about Fairtrade are laying on the shelves as it were the remains of former communication activities carried out with the help of posters and brochures emphasizing on the Fairtrade aspects of the products. According to a retailer communication about Fairtrade was more alive a few years ago. According to her customers nowadays know about it and Fairtrade becomes selfevident (clothing store 2). Supply - In the clothing store Fairtrade products are offered via the brands that are on sale in the store. Nearly all those brands offer a Fairtrade or sustainable variant. The owner of the gift shop obtains the Fairtrade products via a wholesaler that offers only Fairtrade products (clothing store 2; gift shop 1). Support - The retailers in the non-food sector with the Sales Strategy do not need support. The retailers want to select the products they offer by themselves. The free publicity provided by the FTT campaign generates awareness for the gift shop, which is appreciated by the retailer. 4.3.2 The Corporate Strategy

Retailers who apply the Corporate Strategy aim to be a good corporate citizen. These retailers perceive sustainability to be an irreversible trend in the market and therefore an important product feature to get acquainted with. The reason for doing so is twofold. First it is a retailers personal involvement in and enthusiasm for sustainability, and second: the market for sustainable products is growing. Sustainability is perceived to be the general focus of future demand and supply of products (clothing store 1; wholesaler 3). These retailers want to contribute to the society at a sincere and fundamental level (in textbox 4 a store is described that is typical for applying the Corporate Strategy in the non-food sector). Some retailers offer products that provoke sustainable behaviour of the customers. This sustainable behaviour can be provoked by the type of products provided or by explaining how to treat the sustainable products. Besides, some retailers aim in the near future to recycle the products that were sold before (gift shop 1; clothing store 1). The retailers with the Corporate Strategy have sustainable also alternatives for the companys internal use (e.g. heat recovery systems, FSC paper, energy saving light 35

bulbs, environmental friendly paint and shelves of recycled material) (clothing store 1; gift shop 1; wholesaler 3).
Textbox 4 - Fairtrade products offered in a clothing store with help of the Corporate Strategy The first impression of the store generates the idea of an ordinary fashion store. However, nearly all the products in the clothing store are products produced with Fairtrade and organic production standards. The other products are produced in another sustainable way and all the decoration and construction material in the store are sustainable products. The retailer is convinced that running a business in a complete sustainable way will soon be the standard. Colleagues typify him as a frontrunner in the non-food retail sector. Fairtrade is hardly mentioned in the store besides the fact that the Fairtrade label is attached to the products, and the word Fairtrade is mentioned at the walls of the store. When the customer is about to buy clothing, the Fairtrade and organic aspects of the products are mentioned by the staff for two reasons: organic fibers react slightly different on washing compared to conventional fibers, and customers are interested in the Fairtrade and other sustainable aspect of products.

Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Corporate Strategy in the non-food sector in the Netherlands: Product - The Fairtrade products sold by retailers with the Corporate Strategy are offered next to other sustainable products and consist of clothing, (promotional) gifts and household products. The target groups of these retailers consist of customers in the mid or slightly higher segments of purchasing power, who first of all want to buy good looking products, but who also want Fairtrade and sustainable products. The ethical aspects, like social responsibility, of the product are important to the customers as well (clothing store 1; gift shop 1; wholesaler 3). Currently clients of the retailers in this category can choose to purchase a sustainable or conventional product. Not all customers yet ask for sustainable products, although sales of these products are observed to enter the mainstream market: the availability of Fairtrade and sustainable products increases. Although customer awareness for Fairtrade products rises and customers even become more conscious and critical about the impact of production processes, the retailers indicate that the market for Fairtrade and sustainable products could be amplified way more (clothing store 1; wholesaler 3). Place - The assortment of some retailers consists of Fairtrade products only, others also provide conventional products next to the Fairtrade products. The wholesaler actively shows the Fairtrade and other sustainable products to his clients when he expects they will be interested in these products. Price - The price level of Fairtrade products is twenty to fifty per cent higher than for the conventional products. Sometime the margins of those products are lowered (wholesaler 3). However, the wholesaler and gift shop experience that customers nowadays dare to buy expensive sustainable products. The retailer of the clothing store lowered the prices of his products on purpose, so his margins are small. With the lower prices his products are attractive for customers who buy products in the middle segment of purchasing power. The reason behind is that this middle segment is the largest consumer group to target. The customers who are completely into sustainable products are not 36

targeted, since they are a small group and are expected to remain like that. Besides, Dutch customers are focused on the price level of a product. The retailer states that a company can be still economically successful when prices are low provided that at the same time the turn-over is high (clothing store 1). Promotion - Although the focus of the retailers with the Corporate Strategy is completely on Fairtrade and sustainability, it is not mentioned very outspokenly at the frontage of their store. According to the owner of a clothing store he would receive many reactions (old prejudices) if he would have done so (Fairtrade product are seen as expensive, hippie and boring). When customers enter the store they should first of all be attracted because of the fashionable and affordable products offered. Information about the Fairtrade features of the products are provided on the website and with the help of posters, labels, flyers and sometimes unique product numbers (to enhance transparency about the production of a product) attached to the products in the store. Customers are surprised to hear about the Fairtrade aspects of the products that at first glance are perceived to be fashionable only (clothing store 1). The gift shop sells mainly Fairtrade products, and there the Fairtrade concept is also not mentioned in the store (gift shop 1). To increase publicity and sales of sustainable products, some retailers create awareness by provoking questions to the consumers about Fairtrade and sustainability in general. This is done to put emphasis on the fact that consumers can also choose for Fairtrade products. Fairtrade and sustainability is used as a unique selling point. It is not rejected anymore by the customers. Repetitive provision of the product increases sales rates of non-food products. This repetitive provision results in familiarisation of the customers with the Fairtrade product in which supply creates demand (clothing store 1; wholesaler 3). Supply - The assortment of Fairtrade products provided by some suppliers cannot always fulfill the demand of the retailers. The assortment of the supplier is limited for instance due to lack of branding or sufficient communication between the producers and purchasers (clothing store 1; gift shop 1). Support - Retailers with a Corporate Strategy obtained useful support and exchange information during meetings and conferences with retailers who provide sustainable products as well, albeit they serve completely different sectors. In business clubs sustainability and, in this case, Fairtrade are hardly ever subjects that are dealt with (wholesaler 3). The retailers want the local government to support the Fairtrade initiatives more than currently done. The retailers mention achieving this with the help of for instance manifestations, lowering tax-prices for sustainable products and more action by the FTT team like free publicity, conferences and lobbying. They also want the local government to stimulate sustainable practices like closing the front doors during colder days to save energy (clothing store 1; gift shop 1; wholesaler 3). 4.4 The catering sector

Retailers in the catering sector provide Fairtrade products based on profiling opportunities and the trend whereby Fairtrade and sustainable products are on their way to enter the mainstream channel. In the catering sector entrepreneurial strategies that coincide with the Sales Strategy and the Store Strategy are observed.

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4.4.1

The Sales strategy

The retailers with the Sales Strategy offer Fairtrade products since organizations that encourage and support the provision of Fairtrade products in the catering sector inspired them to do so. Fairtrade products fit with the sustainable and conventional assortment already offered by these retailers. Other kinds of sustainable products are provided as well. The Fairtrade products are offered based on the retailers focus to find commercial opportunities or based on intrinsic motivation to choose for sustainable products (textbox 5 describes the way how a retailer with the Sales Strategy in the catering sector successfully provides Fairtrade products). However, the responsibility felt by the retailer to contribute to a better world is compromised by the product availability and customer satisfaction (cinema caf; restaurant 2).
Textbox 5 - Fairtrade products offered in a restaurant with help of the Sales Strategy The Fairtrade products are provided since the retailer is keen on providing sustainable products. Fairtrade products are used as ingredients for the Fairtrade dish. At the menu of the restaurant the Fairtrade dishes are emphasized with help of a small print of the Fairtrade label (see figure 3). The possibility of the customer to select a Fairtrade dish is also mentioned at the moment the waiter explains the menu to the customers. Fairtrade is mentioned at the website: it informs the customer that Fairtrade products are available in the restaurant and it explains the Fairtrade principles.

Figure 3: A Fairtrade course at the menu of a restaurant, indicated with help of the Fairtrade label.

Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Sales Strategy in the catering sector in the Netherlands: Product - Fairtrade products offered at the catering outlets include coffee, tea, wine, beer, chocolate, rice and canned fruit. Besides the flavor, price and appearance of a Fairtrade product, products usability and storability are important product aspects for the retailers too. Some retailers prefer small packages obtained from supermarkets, others prefer the large ones obtained from wholesalers (see: Supply) (cinema caf; restaurant 1 and 2). It is observed that customers are more conscious about the origin and health aspects of the product they eat than about Fairtrade. Some clients are not willing to buy the Fairtrade products, for reasons of unfamiliarity with and the taste and price of the products (cinema caf; restaurant 1). The retailers with the Sales Strategy cater for the needs of both customers who look for Fairtrade and other sustainable products and those who are not focused on this. To us it is important to raise awareness for Fairtrade. 38

However, we cannot do everything we want, since the choice for the sustainable products is a compromise between the responsibilities we want to take, and the satisfaction of our customers (cinema caf). Place - Some Fairtrade products are prepared in the kitchen and until delivery not shown to the customers (rice, canned fruit etc.). Other Fairtrade products are shown to the customers since they are presented at the tables, in the tea box or shelve at the bar. Price - Prices of Fairtrade products are higher than conventional products. For some products the price difference between Fairtrade and conventional products is surmountable for both the customers and the retailer. Customers are willing to pay up to one euro extra for the Fairtrade product or dish. Sometimes the margins are adjusted to lower the price difference between the offered conventional and Fairtrade products: then the profit generated by selling Fairtrade products is lower compared to selling similar conventional products (cinema caf; restaurant 1). The prices of small packages with Fairtrade products obtained at the supermarkets are higher compared to large packages of the same products offered at the wholesaler (restaurant 1). Promotion - Some retailers mention Fairtrade at their website and put some emphasis on the Fairtrade concept via posters and other images which often are the remainders of previous Fairtrade campaigns (cinema caf; restaurant 2). Other retailers mentioned Fairtrade at the menu with the help of the label or the word Fairtrade, show promotional material at the table and mention Fairtrade during the general explanation about the menu by the waiter. The enthusiasm of a customer for a product is easily generated with the help of an appealing package, not directly by the fact the product is Fairtrade (restaurant 1). However, customer demand for Fairtrade products increases when for instance Fairtrade tea bags, on which the Fairtrade labels are dominantly visible, are provided next to conventional tea. The demand for Fairtrade products can be created by its supply: repetitive visual and tasting encounters with the product, label and promotional material increases the demand for the products and leads to familiarization of the customers with Fairtrade products. The Fairtrade concept generates marketing opportunities for the retailers in this sector and these concepts are used as a USP (cinema caf; restaurant 1 and 2; wholesaler 2). The wholesaler irregularly provides tasting session. These sessions work well, in which small talk is a successful ingredient and the customers (the retailers) often buy the products offered during the happening. These sessions are the only kind of promotion: according to the wholesaler the products they offer should be sold by its properties only (wholesaler 2). Supply - The provision of Fairtrade products by retailers in the catering sector depends on the available quantity and quality of the products at the supplier. A similar decisive factor for product choice is the extent to which this supplier is within the reach of the retailers. Often they only want to visit or be delivered by one or a few wholesalers and suppliers. Doing so must be sufficient for the retailers to gather all the ingredients needed, otherwise purchasing is a complex and too much time consuming activity (restaurant 1 and 2; wholesaler 2). Some retailers temporarily pick the conventional variant or acquire the Fairtrade products at supermarkets when Fairtrade products are not available at a retailers preferred supplier (restaurant 1 and 2). For them it is convenient that they offer both conventional and Fairtrade products and therefore are not restricted to certain products because of their (for instance 100% Fairtrade) business formula. A few wholesalers are specialized in offering sustainable, including Fairtrade, products only. Delivery of products ordered from these wholesalers can be done free of charge only when ordering a minimum 39

number of products. For retailers in the catering sector this requirement makes offering Fairtrade products difficult since storage capacity and storability of the products are restricting factors (cinema caf; restaurant 2). For these retailers Fairtrade products should be available at the current (conventional) wholesaler. For them it should be clear where to obtain the Fairtrade products, and the products should be easily available. The higher price for Fairtrade products is not the main problem for retailers; its logistics is (restaurant 1 and 2, cinema caf). Offering the right volume of Fairtrade products is an issue for wholesalers as well: they want the same products in each of their outlet. At the wholesaler, Fairtrade products cannot be provided mingled in the main shelves: it will disappear in the massive product provision, and many facings are needed to avoid that from happening. Fairtrade products are offered as a pilot based on the initiative of the franchise retailers. The products are not yet provided in each store of the wholesaler chain store. The decision to offer Fairtrade products in each store is made by the general managers, who especially take into account the availability and quality/price ratio of the products and not yet the Fairtrade aspects (wholesaler 2). Support The main enabling factor to provide Fairtrade products is that a retailer has to run into those products at the wholesaler or supplier, or customers have to ask frequently for it (restaurant 2). As observed, the latter has never been done. Therefore it would be useful when for instance FTT teams take the effort to get more Fairtrade products at the suppliers, since for retailers in the catering sector offering Fairtrade products or not depends on logistics, not on the price of the products. Fairtrade products should be available in larger quantities, preferably at the retailers current supplier. The retailers suggest to include suppliers in the activities when promoting and organizing the FTT campaign. Providing an overview where customers can obtain the Fairtrade products is of help too. Such a list inspires retailers to also provide Fairtrade products, since mentioning them on a list generates free publicity. Besides, the commitment of local governments in favor of Fairtrade, like with the FTT campaign, stimulates retailers to provide Fairtrade products too (cinema caf; restaurant 1 and 2). To some retailers the criteria of the FTT campaign are not clear. They hesitate to participate with the campaign since they think they need to offer many more Fairtrade and sustainable products than actually required by the criteria (catering association; cinema caf). Besides, some retailers think: when doing it (offering Fairtrade products), I have to do it good. In other words: they think they need to be sincere and provide Fairtrade versions of every item sold when getting involved in offering sustainable products (cinema caf). However, joining the Fairtrade Restaurant Week9 was perceived by retailers to be very easy: one product per course of the menu needed to consist of a product with the Fairtrade label (catering association; restaurant 1 and 2). The Fairtrade Restaurant Week was a nice pilot for the retailers to experience providing Fairtrade products. The retailers liked the fact that for this week they did not need to change the menu they already created for their business. It would have been too costly for the retailers if they had to change the menu for the Fairtrade Restaurant Week (restaurant 1 and 2). The catering association also recognizes the trend of providing sustainable products. They can inform, explain and inspire retailers to provide Fairtrade products (e.g. to use it as a marketing tool), however they cannot make it compulsory or force them to do so (catering association).
9

Fairtrade Restaurant Week: a week in which Fairtrade products are promoted in the catering sector. Participating retailers offer a Fairtrade menu: each course of the menu consists of at least one Fairtrade ingredient. Website: www.fairtraderestaurantweek.nl.

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4.4.2

The Store Strategy

The objective of a retailer who applies this strategy is to provide sustainable products (especially Fairtrade products) to the largest extent possible. The Fairtrade products are provided next to the sustainable and conventional products and fit well with the sustainability mentality of the retailer. The retailer observes the irreversible trend of sustainable production, but does not consider herself dependent on the society for continuation of the store: in case Fairtrade products are not available anymore at the supplier, or the aim to provide sustainable products disappears, this retailer will replace the Fairtrade products by conventional or other sustainable products. The Store Strategy is not illustrated in a textbox with typical case, since for this strategy only one retailer has been identified. It is assumed that the description of the strategy already reflects the typical case. Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Store Strategy in the catering sector in the Netherlands: Product - In this catering outlet Fairtrade chocolate is an ingredient for ice cream, sold as a drink and a candy. Next to these products Fairtrade coffee and tea are offered. The target groups of this retailer are customers who prefer sustainable products (coffee & ice cream shop). Place - The Fairtrade products are provided mingled with conventional products on the shelves. Price - The prices of the products in this catering outlet are kept low on purpose. The margins are adjusted in favor of the customers: We want to make Fairtrade and organic products affordable for everyone. We try to ask a fair price in order to offer products that are not too expensive because the products have a Fairtrade label (coffee & ice cream shop). Promotion - The focus on Fairtrade and sustainability of this company is mentioned in a notable way at their website. In the store itself it Fairtrade is mentioned on the frontage (heerlijke winkel, a Fair and Tasty Store) and the labels are visible at the products. Communication about Fairtrade has not been done outspoken, since the focus of this retailer is on selling the product, and Fairtrade is an important, but silent asset (coffee & ice cream shop). Supply - Retailers with the Store Strategy have to deal with the same issues as mentioned in the description of the Sales Strategy in the catering sector: storage capacity and availability of Fairtrade products at wholesalers is a restricting factor to obtain Fairtrade products, since the store is too small for the large quantities offered at the wholesaler. Also for this retailer the higher price for Fairtrade products is not the main problem; its logistics is. Besides, for supplies of some products the retailer depends on a food specialist. For this specialist it is sometimes difficult to obtain the Fairtrade ingredients for the products ordered by the retailer. This specialist is primarily focused on the quality of the product, so including Fairtrade ingredients is not strived for as much as the retailer with the catering outlet prefers. However, the retailer observes an increasing number of sustainable products offered by the wholesaler (coffee & ice cream shop). Support - The free publicity offered by the FTT campaign is appreciated. Furthermore no support is needed by this retailer since she thinks a commercial company should be able to offer Fairtrade or other products by itself (coffee & ice cream shop).

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4.5

Conclusions

Based on the results as presented in the previous paragraphs it is interesting to have a look at what can be learned from the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies and related factors for provision of Fairtrade products in a successful manner. First a few general conclusions on enabling and constraining factors are presented. Subsequently the conclusions per observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategy are drawn. An action perspective, in the form of support needed by the retailers to increase the provision of Fairtrade products, is given as well. 4.5.1 Factors that enable retailers to provide Fairtrade products in existing FTTs

There is economic potential for selling Fairtrade products since its sales rates are observed to increase. This is based on an irreversible trend in the society where citizens focus on sustainability and request retailers to provide sustainable products. However, the customers currently perceive the Fairtrade label attached to a product as only an asset. Decisive factors for customers to choose for Fairtrade products is not the label, but are the price and quality, like appearance and taste, of a product. Customer satisfaction is the main focus of a retailer. Hence these factors are the main criteria of retailers when obtaining the Fairtrade products from the suppliers. In stores where Fairtrade products are offered next to other sustainable or conventional products, they are offered mingled with these products in the shelves. That means that Fairtrade products are provided close to the mainstream place where products can be offered: at eye-level. This position of the Fairtrade products leads to repeated exposure with the products, which again leads to familiarization of the products. Communication about Fairtrade products can be done in many ways and differs per strategy applied (see further on in this text where conclusions related to promotion are explained per observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategy). The promotion of Fairtrade products can be done silently or outspoken. In both situations the Fairtrade exerts its communicative power, simply because it is attached at the front side of the product. In each of the observed retail sectors customers are always exposed to this kind of communication, except for the situation in which the products are used as a raw material in a product produced by the retailer himself. According to most retailers the hippie-image that was attached to Fairtrade is gone. The Fairtrade label does not generate negative reactions by customers anymore. In most cases the Fairtrade concept is known by nearly all customers. Therefore, the Fairtrade concept is not explained by the retailers and their personnel. When customers do have questions about Fairtrade, everyone is able to give an explanation. 4.5.2 Constraining factors for the provision of Fairtrade products in existing FTTs

The number of Fairtrade products provided by the retailers suppliers is limited for similar reasons as the retailer sometime is limited to do so (the Fairtrade products are not always available at the preferred level of quality, volume and price). Hence this constrains the retailers to provide more Fairtrade products than currently done. Some retailers are a little afraid 42

Some retailers in the non-food and catering sector are a little afraid that the hippie-image of Fairtrade is still evoked by the customers. These retailers do not emphasize Fairtrade at the first moment a customer enters the store. They want the customer first of all to be interested in the product itself. Later on the story behind the Fairtrade product is told, which always received positive reactions of the customers. Afraid of prejudices or not, all interviewed retailers successfully use Fairtrade for marketing purposes as a USP, and often relate Fairtrade to sustainability. Some retailers lower the prices of the Fairtrade products they offer, and get the USP in return. The retailers perceive doing so as an investment, since they expect sales rates of Fairtrade and other sustainable products to grow. 4.5.3 The Sales Strategy in existing FTTs

Enabling factors In the saturated (Dutch) food sector retailers need to distinguish themselves through the products they offer, in which sustainability is recently used as a USP. The provision of Fairtrade products matches this development. As stated by one of the retailers: Fairtrade and sustainability in general becomes a License to Operate. This is confirmed by the retail expert who said that it will start in the food sector. The franchise retailers indeed provide the Fairtrade products for publicity and commercial opportunities. This also holds for retailers with one or several stores (mainly in the non-food and catering sector). Another reason for the latter group of retailers to provide Fairtrade products is personal commitment with the Fairtrade principles. This personal commitment elicits an extra impulse for the provision of Fairtrade products, because these retailers visit the suppliers by themselves and pro-actively select the Fairtrade products. However, it is observed that the provision of Fairtrade products with the help of the Sales Strategy is not based on the business wide strategy of full sustainable entrepreneurship. Most of the retailers that apply the Sales Strategy hardly used promotional material for Fairtrade in the store, although in the catering sector it is mentioned at the menu. A few years ago Fairtrade products were promoted, for instance with the help of posters and flyers, in a more intensive way. Today promotion is done less intensively, since the label is expected to be known with the customer and uniformity at the shopping floor is aimed for by the retailers. It can be concluded that, particularly in the food and non-food sector, the promotion and provision of Fairtrade products is applied in a so-called consumer-silent way in order to match with the main needs of the customers as described before (quality and appearance). However, the Fairtrade label is attached to each Fairtrade product and visible for the customers. Besides, the label has communicative power, especially since many customers are familiar with the label. Therefore this kind of Fairtrade promotion (showing a label that indicates the level of sustainability of a product) is not done in an incidental or consumer-silent way, since the Fairtrade products are repetitively provided and mingled with other sustainable and conventional products on the shelves. Constraining factors The prices for Fairtrade products are a little higher than for conventional products. In general, they are perceived by the customers to be not too expensive. However, retailers in the catering sector sometimes lower the margins, otherwise the price of the products would be too high according to the customers. 43

Support for retailers with the Sales Strategy when removing constraining factors to provide Fairtrade products should consist of: The availability of the products at suppliers: The number of Fairtrade products offered at a retailers current supplier, which also meets his quality and price criteria, is too small. Although franchise retailers are allowed to purchase up to twenty per cent based on their own choice, for reasons of convenience and commerce they prefer more Fairtrade product to be provided via the existing supply chains. However, requests for increasing the number of Fairtrade products offered through the central purchasing departments are seldom heard by the general managers that compose the assortment of the chain stores. For retailers in the catering sector offering more Fairtrade products through their current supplier is a solution to their limited storage capacity. Besides, this kind of support enhances repetitive encounters of retailers with the Fairtrade products and stimulates them to select these products. Promotional material: To some retailers in the food sector the FTT promotional material is too subtle, and they want it to be larger. In the catering sector an overview with businesses that provide Fairtrade products is appreciated, especially for the free publicity it generates. In the non-food sector no promotional support what so ever is needed. These retailers want to select the products by themselves. Advocacy works: The retailers in the catering sector got recently inspired to offer Fairtrade products by the advocacy of NGOs that stimulate the provision of Fairtrade. They were also surprised by the fact that the criteria of the FTT campaign are not as strict as expected. They appreciate the room for maneuver in the provision of Fairtrade products, especially in case of certain Fairtrade products being sold out. Joining the societal trend of sustainability: Some retailers think they need to provide many Fairtrade products, otherwise false expectations among the customers may be created (restaurant 2, cinema caf). They think they can only offer and promote Fairtrade products in case the whole assortment is Fairtrade. This assumption becomes irrelevant due to the increasing societal demand for sustainable products. Fairtrade is a part of a sustainable product assortment, which increasingly are provided mingled with non-sustainable products in the shelves. The Store Strategy

4.5.4

Enabling factors The Store Strategy is applied by only one retailer. This retailer offers Fairtrade products because she wants to offer sustainable products. By offering the products at a very low price, she attracts customers to whom Fairtrade is very attractive and to whom Fairtrade is an asset. The Fairtrade products are provided next to conventional products. The Fairtrade products are hardly promoted and only mentioned at the website and a little cryptic at the frontage of the store. However, Fairtrade is for this store the main aspect and inspiration of its existence.

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Constraining factor In case the Fairtrade products are not available at the supplier anymore, the sustainable concept of the store vanishes. Then retailer selects non-Fairtrade products. 4.5.5 The Corporate Strategy

Enabling factors Retailers who are frontrunners in the provision of sustainable products, and actually do operate their business in a sustainable way, are typified to apply the Corporate Strategy. The retailers offer only products that are considered to be sustainable and prefer to provide Fairtrade products over nonFairtrade products. They aim sincerely to be a good corporate citizen by also selecting sustainable products for internal use. These retailers perceived sustainability to be an irreversible trend. They experienced that the market for sustainable products is growing. Legitimacy for the provision of Fairtrade products is first of all based on the products quality aspects like appearances and taste. In a relatively silent way, only at the facade of the store and via the Fairtrade label attached to the products, the Fairtrade aspects are promoted and used as a USP. Some retailers deal with this USP by explaining the Fairtrade aspects of the products to their customers. The retailers stated that their customers consciously select sustainable products. Fairtrade is appreciated as an asset and evokes enthusiastic reactions of the customers. The products sold by these retailers provoke sustainable behavior of the customers. However, this behavioral change is not (yet) accomplished with the help of the Fairtrade products, but through other sustainable products. Constraining factors According to the retailers the quality and quantity of the Fairtrade products on offer lacks behind the demand. The prices that customers needed to pay for the products are a little higher than the conventional products. Some retailers in the non-food sector even adjust the margins for this reason and the customers are willing to pay a higher price. As observed in the other strategies, the customers and retailers in the food and non-food sector are focused on a low price for the products. The retailers do so since their main aim is to meet customer needs. Support for retailers with the Corporate Strategy, when aiming to increase the provision of Fairtrade products, should consist of: Availability of the Fairtrade products at the suppliers: Also within this strategy the availability of Fairtrade products at the supplier is a constraining factor for the retailers to provide these products. Support from local governments: According to the retailers it is important that local governments favor, facilitate and support Fairtrade and sustainability. Clarification of the sustainable labels: Some retailers think that for customer awareness of sustainable products, including the Fairtrade products, it is of help when the sustainable labels are clarified more. Currently there are too many labels and that is confusing for the customers.

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Results II: Increasing the provision of Fairtrade products with help of supportive agents

The provision of Fairtrade products can be increased by activities of supportive agents. For instance NGOs and FTT teams lobby for the provision of these products. Their experience and knowledge is presented in this chapter. Next to retail experts and FTT experts several FTT teams are interviewed. For reasons of comparison the results of these interviews are presented below in six paragraphs and correspond with the six factors that are identified at the retailers (chapter four): Products, Place, Price, Promotion, Supply and Support. 5.1 The demand for Fairtrade products

The FTT experts confirm that that retailers do not need to remove prejudices related to Fairtrade anymore, since Fairtrade products are trendy (FT NGO 1; FTT team 1). The experts observed that customers increasingly prefer to buy products that are produced in a transparent, fair and sustainable way. The customers are also surprised about the relative large and diverse number of Fairtrade products (FT NGO 1; FTT expert 1; FTT team 1). Related to this, an assortment of all kind of sustainable products, of which Fairtrade products are a part, sells easier than a whole range of Fairtrade products only (FTT expert 1). The FTT campaign inspires retailers to provide Fairtrade products. In order to join the FTT campaign the retailers even approach the FTT teams by themselves by asking: can I get a FTT window sticker? (FT NGO 1; FTT team 1) (for the sticker, see appendix V). 5.2 The place in stores where Fairtrade products are offered

Fairtrade products are offered mainly mingled on the shelves (FTT expert 1; FT NGO 1; FTT team 1, 2 and 3). The Fairtrade products are most visibly presented in supermarkets (FTT team 1). Retailers can present the products in their store in the way they prefer. They can choose to offer Fairtrade products more prominently, but it is not always observed that they do so. Special offers of Fairtrade products are presented in a separate shelve (FT NGO 1; FTT team 2 and 3). In case the Fairtrade products are always provided on a separate shelve customers will pass by without noticing the Fairtrade products and forget about it. Besides, when the Fairtrade products are only offered grouped together on a single shelve the effect might be that Fairtrade labels are perceived as a brand (FT NGO 1; FTT expert 1). However, FTT team 3 thinks that currently the Fairtrade products get lost on the shelves when provided mingled with conventional products.

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5.3

The price of Fairtrade products

The price of Fairtrade products is perceived by customers to be higher than conventional products. The price differences are a few euro cents (FTT team 2). Dutch consumers prefer cheap food and according to the customers Fairtrade products should be affordable (FT NGO 1; FTT expert 1). 5.4 The promotion of Fairtrade products

The awareness of both retailers and customers for the FTT campaign is growing (FT NGO 1). The initiatives of FTT teams, like a website, shopping route and manifestations, provide the retailers free publicity (FTT team 3). The FTT window sticker is used as a selling point and for marketing purposes. To a large extent the Fairtrade products are promoted with the help of this sticker (FTT 1; FT NGO 1). Retailers who are very much into Fairtrade and other sustainable products do not communicate about it loudly, since for them it is normal to work with these products. According to a FTT team, larger labels that emphasize the Fairtrade aspects are needed to get attention for Fairtrade products in the stores. In clothing stores, gift shops and catering industry hardly any posters are shown to promote Fairtrade. The attention for Fairtrade products in supermarkets, like the place of the products, special offers, enlarging the Fairtrade assortment, depends on the supermarket owner himself (FTT team 3). Supermarkets often have special offers with Fairtrade products, however the provision of Fairtrade products in supermarkets is not stable and changes because of dynamics in de sector, e.g. when ownership of the stores changes (FTT team 2). 5.4.1 How to remove prejudices

In small municipalities Fairtrade can be used by retailers as a USP, which can be highlighted by for instance local politicians who provide the retailers with the FTT window sticker in case the retailers meet the criteria of the FTT campaign. The target group in larger municipalities is a bit more diffuse, where the retailers might need to deal with some negative images, prejudices as they call it, like: Fairtrade products are mainly coffee; the hippie image may be attached to Fairtrade or the idea that Fairtrade is not an aspect of sustainability. Therefore, for the customers clarification is needed where to buy Fairtrade products and what Fairtrade stands for (FT NGO 1; FTT expert 1). Another way to deal with negative images is, when selling Fairtrade products, to not focus on the Fairtrade aspects of the product as such. Instead, Fairtrade products should be provided as sustainable products (FTT team 2). A similar hint is given about posters to promote Fairtrade: do not defend the prejudices or refer to sad situations and poor people in need, but to people and situations that show happiness and pride (which is induced by Fairtrade). When promoting Fairtrade products, the focus should be on product aspects like quality, taste and design (FTT team 1; FTT expert 1). Tasting sessions are another way to remove prejudices, which helps to let the customer get acquainted with the product (FTT team 1). The FTT campaign is of help to get rid of the hippie-image attached to Fairtrade products (FTT expert 1).

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5.4.2

Explaining the Fairtrade aspect of products to customers

FTT team 3 observes that Fairtrade products are mainly bought by customers who are already familiar with Fairtrade. To these customers the ethical aspect of Fairtrade products is the main reason for product choice. However, many other people do not know what Fairtrade means. Many customers are still unaware about the Fairtrade aspect of the products they buy. Therefore education is needed for instance during existing activities organized by the FTT teams. The staff of a store should have some knowledge about Fairtrade. They should be able to explain about Fairtrade to the customers, otherwise customers will never understand the principles of Fairtrade. Besides, Fairtrade provides the staff with an extra story to tell about the product they offer, since Fairtrade is perceived by customers to be an asset (FT NGO 1; FTT team 3). Customers are often surprised when learning how many products actually do have the Fairtrade label (FTT team 3). In some cases the customers are confused by the different labels claiming production practices similar to Fairtrade (FT NGO 1). Fairtrade and sustainability need constant attention since Dutch consumers often do not know where and how their products are produced. A sticker on the door, indicating that the store sells sustainable products, might facilitate an increase in sales of Fairtrade products. Posters and storylines are also of help to reach people who are slightly interested or unknown with Fairtrade (FTT expert 1). 5.5 The provision of Fairtrade products by suppliers

Retailers with a small business know very well which products they provide in their store. These retailers are, compared to retailers of larger stores, more involved with the background of the products. Owners of larger stores are less aware of the products they offer and need to check the stock list to be able to tell which products they offer in the store (FTT expert 1; FTT team 1; FTT team 2). Franchise retailers provide Fairtrade products when it contributes to the image of the store and fulfills customer demand; the Fairtrade products are not offered via the standard assortment. In the non-food sector the provision of Fairtrade products is constant (FTT team 1). The supply of fresh Fairtrade products in supermarkets is low, due to their quality level and problems in the continuity of delivery (FT NGO 1; FTT expert 1). In the catering sector quality and image of the products are often crucial aspects for the provision of Fairtrade products. When these product aspects do not meet the standards of the retailers, they will not be offered. However, the retailers are willing to provide Fairtrade products when requested by the customers (FTT team 2). Convenience during purchasing and sales of products, like availability of the products at the current supplier, is for retailers often the main argument to provide Fairtrade products or not. However, there is way more supply of Fairtrade products than people know: Fair Trade Original, the largest provider of Fairtrade products in the Netherlands, might have a dominant position in the mind of the retailers (FTT expert 1). Retailers in the catering sector state that Fairtrade products are not available at their wholesaler, while Max Havelaar10 has a list of suppliers on their website to facilitate the sales of Fairtrade products. Besides, the contracts retailers have with suppliers, for instance on coffee in restaurants, are often mentioned to be a limiting factor when considering to switch to a Fairtrade
10

Max Havelaar: the Dutch Fairtrade labeling organization.

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variant of the conventional products offered11. Besides, the provision of Fairtrade products will increase, especially since a large coffee supplier in The Netherlands (Douwe Egberts) provides Fairtrade coffee (FTT team 2 and 3; FT NGO 1). When FTT teams contact franchise retailers to offer Fairtrade products, they get redirected to the headquarters of the store, since the product assortment offered in these stores is composed at central level. Therefore Max Havelaar also negotiates with supermarket organizations about the provision of Fairtrade products via the standard assortment of supermarkets (FT NGO 1). 5.6 Support of experts to provide Fairtrade products

A FTT team experienced that the question Why offering Fairtrade products? (based on ignorance and resistance) can be answered with How: how Fairtrade products can be provided. Doing so reduces the efforts for retailers when providing Fairtrade products (FTT team 3). Other experts observed that retailers like to have a list of suppliers where they can obtain the Fairtrade products. However, the retailers want to decide by themselves where to obtain Fairtrade products. Therefore Fairtrade products should be available from the suppliers, especially the permanent suppliers of the retailer. FTT teams prefer the national FTT campaign team to focus on suppliers like wholesalers and central purchasing departments of chain stores to increase the provision of Fairtrade products. Since, according to the FTT teams, doing so is beyond their scope (FTT team 1 and 2). Regulation also stimulates retailers to participate in the provision of FT products. The sustainable procurement initiative of the Dutch government stimulates sales of Fairtrade products as well (FT NGO 1; FTT expert 1). This initiative requires national and regional governments to do their procurement in a sustainable way (Dutch national government, 2011a). 5.6.1 The role of the FTT teams and professional associations

Responsibility for the FTT campaign should be taken locally, as this generates success and support for the future of the FTT (FTT expert 1). FTT teams can facilitate contact between companies, between companies and suppliers and between other kinds of networks. Stimulating retailers to offer Fairtrade products works best when FTT teams actively contact retailers and explain the opportunities it generates. Therefore the FTT campaign also works with ambassadors (e.g. members of the FTT teams, retailers or an association of mayors) who inspire retailers to sell Fairtrade products. Small retailers tend to accept information and tips to offer certain products from peers more quickly than from large suppliers. Economic and social motives are the reasons behind this, since the position of many small retailers is vulnerable (FTT team 1). To promote Fairtrade it is recommended to utilize social contacts, networks and existing events. Collaboration and exchanging experience between retailers turned out to be successful for the provision of Fairtrade products (FTT team 2 and 3). Mentioning Fairtrade at
11

According to several coffee suppliers the coffee contract includes purchasing obligations, like volume and frequency, rather than the type of coffee the retailer gets. In the duration of this contract the retailer can select each type of coffee the suppliers provide. At any time the retailer can switch from conventional to Fairtrade and vice versa, as long as he sticks to the contract.

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meetings with retailers results in recognition and familiarization with Fairtrade (FTT expert 1; FT NGO 1; catering association). Besides, during the national Inspiration Meetings (organized by the Dutch FTT campaign team for FTT teams) experiences are exchanged (FTT team 1 and 2). Another FTT team organized funny and crazy activities for the promotion of Fairtrade, which turned out to be very successful (FTT team 3). The Fairtrade Restaurant Week was a successful initiative to promote Fairtrade products. After this week some retailers kept on providing Fairtrade products, since they experienced that Fairtrade products are easily available (FTT team 1; catering association). The catering association can explain and inform retailers about the provision of Fairtrade products. Although this association recognizes the trend of sustainability of which Fairtrade products are an aspect, they cannot force the retailers to actually provide the products by setting up regulations etc. (catering association). Local business associations, who defend the interests of retailers in a certain region, are explicitly not dealing with Fairtrade and sustainability. Doing so would be a commercial activity, which they do not want to be involved in. These associations lobby with the municipality for practicalities like parking places, theft regulation and the organization of activities like markets (business association 1). A threat to the FTT campaign is that fewer people do voluntary work, which means that less people are available to become a member of the FTT team. Another risk is the reduction of the financial support for NGOs in the development sector in The Netherlands: the current FTTs would not exist without the support from the NGOs like the Dutch Centre for International Cooperation (FTT expert 1). 5.6.2 Fairtrade as a Unique Selling Point

The Fairtrade aspect of a product generates a USP and therefore is interesting for retailers, especially for the ones who serve a saturated market and who deal with problems resulting from the current economic crisis. FTT teams can show the retailers that Fairtrade is trendy and linked with sustainability, which in itself is a booming subject that retailers can deal with (FTT team 1 and 3; catering association). 5.6.3 Comments on the focus of the FTT campaign

The FTT teams mention the importance of getting clarifications about several aspects related to the FTT campaign. The tender rules related to sustainable procurement by governments need some detailing (FTT team 1; FT NGO 1). The teams also need more clarity about the purpose of the campaign. They want to know whether the focus should be on Fairtrade or on sustainability in general of which Fairtrade is an aspect (FT team 2). Sustainability initiatives are appreciated by the FTT experts, but in the slip stream of their campaign (FT NGO 1). The concept of sustainability is too wide for the FTT campaign (FTT team 1 and 2; FT NGO 1). Including competitive labels, like UTZ Certified, would broaden the scope of the campaign, according to them and is not desirable. Some FTT teams agree with this focus and state that the standards set by the Fairtrade Labelling Organization should be the leading principles for the campaign, since these standards result in internalization of the total costs of the impact of trade. Other experts disagree with this view and state that focusing on sustainability as such is more effective than trying to reach a sustainable future with the help of individual initiatives only. They state that the FTT campaign is an element of the broader transition towards sustainability. Therefore an umbrella concept, like Socially Responsible Restaurant could be developed, where products with labels competitive to 50

Fairtrade are also provided. Besides, companies increasingly include CSR in their practices. These companies are often inspired by their employees, who in turn are citizens who increasingly become aware of sustainability. Providing Fairtrade products in the company is only a small aspect of CSR (CSR expert; FTT expert 1). 5.7 Conclusions

Based on the results obtained from the experts it cannot be stated clearly which strategy or strategies they observed to be applied most by the retailers. Reading between the lines it can be concluded that the Sales Strategy is applied mostly, since retailers are stimulated by (FTT) NGOs and ambassadors, governmental regulations and (local) social contacts to provide Fairtrade products. Based on their own initiative they would not have provided these products next to their conventional assortment. Offering Fairtrade products provides the retailers with publicity and profiling opportunities. However, the experts observed that the promotion of Fairtrade products has not been done very outspoken. The experts also state that promotion about Fairtrade should not been done so outspoken to bypass the hippie-image (they think is) attached to the products. Solutions to avoid the prejudices are: provide Fairtrade as a part of the sustainable assortment (sustainability is recognized as a trend), and focus on the quality of a product rather than on its ethical aspects. In other words: the retailers mainly want to fulfill the needs of their customers, which means that they want to offer a product of a certain quality and possibly a certain level of sustainability (in this case in the form of Fairtrade). Some experts state that the retailers with a relative small business know very well which (Fairtrade) products they offer. Compared to franchise retailers, they are very conscious about the background of the product they offer. This offers a so called common ground or entrance for e.g. the FTT team towards small retailers in order to get them interested in Fairtrade, and hence to provide more Fairtrade products in their stores. For the large retailers this is less an item, since they will provide these products anyway based on the societal trend of sustainable consumption and production (SCP). In paragraph 5.7.2 a summary of conflicting views on the focus of the FTT campaign is given, on whether the campaign should solely focus on Fairtrade or sustainability in general. The experts mentioned a wide variety of suggestions how to support the retailers to offer Fairtrade products in their stores. To a certain extent these suggestions match with the information obtained from the retailers. This match is described in the paragraph below. 5.7.1 The role of supportive agents when aiming to increase the provision of Fairtrade products

The FTT teams can facilitate contacts between governments, retailers and the civil society. Using social contacts and existing networks proved to inspire retailers joining the FTT campaign and offer Fairtrade products. The FTT teams mentioned Fairtrade during meetings with retailers, which resulted in recognition and familiarization with Fairtrade. The experts and retailers mentioned the same criteria (related to products quality and price) that customers use to select the Fairtrade products. The customers perceive the Fairtrade aspect of a product to be an asset and they are increasingly interested in sustainable production. Furthermore, experts and FTT teams also agree on the increased sales rates in relation to the place where the products are provided: mingled on the shelves.

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The FTT teams state that involving retailers in Fairtrade works best when these retailers are actively contacted. Some retailers got inspired by external agents who tried to get them involved. The FTT teams mention the free publicity generated by the FTT campaign as beneficial for retailers. The FTT window sticker is very popular amongst the retailers. However, most of the retailers already included Fairtrade products in their assortment based on their own initiative or via the central purchasing department. The retailers prefer to select the products and suppliers by themselves, since to them it is most important that Fairtrade products are available at their current supplier. They prefer that over a help with the promotion. The retailers often claimed that the Fairtrade products are not available at their suppliers12 (mainly wholesalers). Requests towards large retailers (e.g. supermarkets) to provide (more) Fairtrade products has been done by Max Havelaar. FTT teams also prefer that an umbrella organization, like Max Havelaar and the FTT campaign team, does so. FTT teams state that they are not able to focus on the supply chain, since that is located beyond the borders of the municipality. For large chain stores with central purchasing departments they are right. However, excuses of catering retailers that they cannot provide Fairtrade coffee because of their commitment to a contract can be figured out by the FTT team and falsified when the FTT teams actively have contact with the retailers. As said before (in paragraph 5.6.1), this active approach works best anyway to stimulate retailers to provide Fairtrade products. For the retailers the FTT teams are of help for lobbying with the local government to stimulate the provision of Fairtrade products and facilitate performing sustainable practices. Business associations are aware of the trends about SCP and Fairtrade products. However, they cannot make its provision mandatory for its members. They can only inspire them and emphasize retailers to take advantage of this trend. 5.7.2 Conflicting views of supportive agents and retailers on the provision of Fairtrade products

The experts disagree with the retailers about the focus of the campaign. In the opinion of the retailers and some experts Fairtrade is an aspect of sustainability, which in itself becomes an increasingly important aspect of production. Some FTT experts and teams believe the opposite and state that the focus should be on the Fairtrade principles, and sustainability can be dealt with in the slip stream of the campaign. They think customers need more education and information about Fairtrade. It can be concluded that the focus of the FTT teams is at the level of the Store or Corporate Strategy, while other experts observed that the Sales Strategy is applied most often by the retailers. Although the Corporate Strategy might be appreciated a lot for its high ethical commitment (aiming for a high level of sustainability), the Sales Strategy contributes to a large extent to the sales rates of Fairtrade products: supermarkets apply the Sales Strategy and eighty five per cent of the Fairtrade products are sold via supermarkets. The FTT teams state they need clarification about the purpose of the FTT campaign13 and the tender rules regarding sustainable procurement of Dutch governmental bodies14. Some FTT experts and teams

12

Max Havelaar provides at its website an overview of over seventy suppliers who offer Fairtrade products (see: www.maxhavelaar.nl/grootverbruik). This list does not always match with the actual provision of Fairtrade products at the shopping floor of the suppliers.
13

The criteria for the FTT campaign are published at the website of the campaign (Fairtradegemeenten, 2010).

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state that retailers and customers have several prejudices related to FT products and think they can be removed with the help of clarification about where to buy Fairtrade products and what Fairtrade stands for. As can be observed in chapter four, according to the retailers the prejudices are not there anymore and say that Fairtrade can be used as a USP linked to the trend of sustainability. The latter is in line with the opinion of some other FTT teams. The FTT campaign is executed by a team that works on a voluntary basis. A decreasing number of people want to do voluntary work and a reduction of the subsidy for the international development sector in The Netherlands by 201115 is a threat to the success of the FTT campaign (FTT expert 1).

14

The tender rules regarding the sustainable procurement of Dutch governmental bodies are provided via the website of the Dutch National Government (Dutch national government, 2011b).
15

Senaat akkoord met begroting Ontwikkelingssamenwerking (Dutch Senate Approves Budget for International Development). Nieuwsbericht 06-04-2011. URL: www.rijksoverheid.nl/nieuws/2011/04/ 06/senaat-akkoord-metbegroting-ontwikkelingssamenwerking.html. Date of access: 14-06-2011.

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Results III: The case study - Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies in emergent Fairtrade Town Renkum

The municipality of Renkum currently aims to reach the status of FTT. Renkum is a medium sized municipality in the middle of the Netherlands that consists of six residential areas (see figure 1). This chapter presents the Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies of retailers in emergent FTT Renkum. The strategies are identified and presented per sector in a similar way as has been done for existing FTTs (see chapter four). The conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies that are constructed for this research are used as a guide to identify the strategies that retailers in Renkum currently apply to provide the Fairtrade products. For the interviewees in Renkum the same topic list (with the factors) was used as during the interviews with retailers in existing FTTS and the experts. The observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies are explained with the help of the factors: Products - Place - Price - Promotion Supply and Support. In the last paragraph the conclusions are drawn for the Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies and accompanying enabling and constraining factors in emergent FTT Renkum. It also presents a number of subjects that indicate how to support retailers to increase the number of Fairtrade products in their stores. This sixth chapter presents the case study about emergent FTT Renkum. In chapter seven conclusions are drawn about the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies in the case study compared to the established FTTs. For the provision of Fairtrade products the No Fairtrade Strategy and the Sales Strategy in each retail sector of the municipality of Renkum are observed. Customers in Renkum are interested in Fairtrade products. However, quality aspects like taste, appearance and fit are decisive factors for product choice and the Fairtrade aspect is an asset. Retailers who do and do not provide Fairtrade products keep this in mind in order to keep the customers satisfied. Fairtrade products that meet these criteria are available at the supplier only in small quantities. Some retailers therefore cannot or do not want to provide the Fairtrade products. Retailers who do provide a few Fairtrade products are looking forward to the moment more Fairtrade products are available at their supplier. 6.1 6.1.1 The food sector The No Fairtrade Strategy

Fairtrade products are not provided because they are not available at the quality and quantity level as preferred by the retailers. Retailers in the food sector in Renkum who do not provide Fairtrade products are food specialists. Customers of these retailers want value for money, they want products of high quality and are willing to pay a higher price (food specialist 2R and 3R). One retailer irregularly provides Fairtrade products which are offered next to the assortment which consists of other sustainable and conventional products. He observes that supermarkets offer more Fairtrade products than he does. This retailer got the impression that the provision of Fairtrade products in supermarkets by-passed the food

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specialist. The normal sequence would have been the other way round, where products offered by the food specialist later on also enter the supermarket (food specialist 2R). Factors to not provide Fairtrade products in the food sector in Renkum: Product The retailer who does not provide Fairtrade food products in the municipality of Renkum actually provides some every now and then. When offering Fairtrade products, the retailer wants to be unique in doing so. Since Fairtrade products are already offered at the supermarkets it is not attractive to do so too, unless the Fairtrade products are at the preferred quality/price ratio. However, the volume of Fairtrade products available at the supplier does not meet the demand of this food specialist (food specialist 2R). The target groups these retailers serve are mainly the wealthy inhabitants of the municipality. These customers know very well what products and brands they want to buy. The customers are looking for products of higher quality compared to similar products offered in the supermarket. Higher quality is defined as: good taste, appealing, a well-known brand or produced locally. They are also willing to pay a higher price for those products. Place - In one store the Fairtrade products are provided together with other sustainable products in a separate shelve, since they are new coming products (food specialist 2R). Price - The price of the incidentally provided Fairtrade products, are a little higher than the conventional products. Promotion - The Fairtrade products receive a little more attention than the conventional products. Attention to the Fairtrade products is drawn via small nametags on the shelves, explaining the product is a Fairtrade product. The Fairtrade concept is not mentioned at the websites and in the store, or via posters and narratives etc. (food specialist 2R). Supply - As mentioned before, the suppliers do not provide Fairtrade products because of the low quality/price ratio of the products. The provision of Fairtrade products in these stores is low due to the insufficient volume of Fairtrade products available at their suppliers. Suppliers of the food specialists claim that Fairtrade products are not available at the level of quantity they need. Support - One retailer would like to have a list of suppliers who offer Fairtrade products which enables him to check whether these products meet his quality standard (food specialist 2R). The other is interested in providing Fairtrade products when those products meet the preferred quality level and when offered at the wholesaler he already visits (food specialist 3R). 6.1.2 The Sales Strategy

The retailer with the Sales Strategy observed a momentum for Fairtrade. He thinks sales of Fairtrade products goes along with that, since sales rates of Fairtrade and other sustainable products have rapidly increased the last few years. The Fairtrade products are provided next to other sustainable and conventional products. The provision of Fairtrade products in the supermarket is based on sales opportunities and for reasons of profiling. According to the retailer sustainability and Fairtrade can be used as a selling point (supermarket 3R).

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Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Sales Strategy in the food sector in Renkum: Product - Fairtrade products are offered via a supermarkets private label and premium brands. The retailer states that his customers consciously choose sustainable products. Place - The products are provided at the customers eye-level. The products are mingled with both sustainable and conventional products on the shelves. The Fairtrade products are also provided in a separate shelf. Price - The price of Fairtrade products is often a little higher than for conventional products. The retailer states that customers are willing to pay a price difference up to a maximum of ten per cent. Some Fairtrade products are a little bit cheaper than the same product with a premium brand. This phenomenon is, according to the retailer, partly enhanced due to an increase in prices for conventional products. The prices of Fairtrade products offered in this store are still higher than the cheapest version of that product. Promotion - The products are provided without much promotional attention. The Fairtrade label is visible to the customers on the front side of the products. The word Fairtrade is printed at posters which are incidentally shown in the store, for instance during a week in which Fairtrade receives extra action and Fairtrade products are offered for lower prices. Fairtrade is mentioned at the website and at the online order form. Since the Fairtrade products are provided at eye-level, the Fairtrade label is repeatedly visible to the customers. Supply - The Fairtrade assortment increases, especially since the home brand of the supermarket offers Fairtrade products. The retailer obtains the Fairtrade products via the assortment offered via the central purchasing department. Besides, the retailer orders Fairtrade products at the Fairtrade wholesaler on his own initiative. Support - The retailer does not need support to increase the number of Fairtrade products offered in his store. The retailer assumes that for successful provision of Fairtrade products in a small municipality uniform promotion of the products and the concept is important. He recommends using uniform promotional material for all the retailers who provide Fairtrade products (supermarket 3R). 6.2 6.2.1 The non-food sector The No Fairtrade Strategy

The retailer with the store in Renkum wants to be unique and does not want to offer products similar to products provided in neighboring stores or at the World Shops (see footnote 3) (gift & clothing store R). Since the store is situated in a town, the retailer wants to provide nice products to ensure that the customers do not go to the shopping center in a nearby city. Factors to not provide Fairtrade products in the non-food sector in Renkum: Product - The retailer provides fashionable gifts and clothing for children. The retailer does not offer Fairtrade products, but does only a few sustainable products. Fairtrade products are not provided because of the dull image attached. In the opinion of the retailer and her customers, Fairtrade products are perceived to be not fashionable, whereas the impression of a product is decisive for selection to buy. According to this retailer the appearance, like layout and illustrations on the package, elicit the first 56

impression of the customer about the product. The Fairtrade aspect is not the first impression a customer gets during the product encounter, hence not the first aspect upon which product choice is based. To the retailer and the customers Fairtrade is therefore an asset (gift & clothing store R). Place, Price & Promotion - This retailer does not provide Fairtrade products. Supply - The basic collection, 80% of the assortment, is obtained through one wholesaler. This wholesaler offers only a few Fairtrade products. These Fairtrade products are not selected by the retailer, since they do not fit with the current assortment offered or are too expensive. The rest of the assortment is irregularly ordered from forty suppliers. Support - A list indicating where to obtain Fairtrade products to increase the number of those products in the store will not be appreciated by the retailer, since the current pathway to the supplier is very well known and convenient. An increase of the number of suppliers is not attractive because it will make purchasing confusing and complex. Therefore she prefers (fashionable!) Fairtrade products to be provided at current suppliers. 6.2.2 Sales Strategy

The Fairtrade products are offered because of sales opportunities. The Fairtrade products are obtained based on advice from the supplier, the increasing preference of customers for sustainable products and the FTT campaign. The Fairtrade products are offered next to conventional products (clothing store 3R). Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Sales Strategy in the non-food sector in Renkum: Product - The Fairtrade products in this store are pants, which are a small part compared with the large number of conventional products offered in the store. The Fairtrade products are selected at the supplier based on appearance and quality, not primarily because they have a Fairtrade label. According to the retailer customers perceive Fairtrade to be an asset of the product, not the main incentive for buying it (clothing store 3R). Place - The Fairtrade products are provided mingled with the conventional products on the shelves. Price - There is no price difference between conventional and Fairtrade products. It is unclear whether the production price for Fairtrade products is higher compared to similar non-Fairtrade products, since the retailer does not adjust the margins in order to reduce the price difference between Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade products. Promotion - The only kind of communication about Fairtrade at the shopping floor is done with the help of the Fairtrade label attached to the products. Flyers about Fairtrade used to be offered in the store. Sometimes the Fairtrade products receive more attention by being highlighted at a special place in the store. The retailer is willing to present Fairtrade products more prominently and show a display about Fairtrade in the store. Supply - The retailer obtains the products he offers via companies that offer certain brands and a wholesaler. The suppliers of the clothing store increasingly highlight Fairtrade products. Support - The provision of more Fairtrade products depends on the extent to which the suppliers increase the number of Fairtrade products they offer. This is expected to happen in the near

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future. The number of sustainable labels is confusing; both the retailer and customers prefer a single or a few labels related to sustainable issues of which Fairtrade is an aspect (clothing store 3R). 6.3 6.3.1 The catering sector The No Fairtrade Strategy

The retailer in the catering sector in Renkum who did not consider providing Fairtrade products incidentally does so. The retailer provides Fairtrade products when the conventional versions of the product at the supplier are not available. Other sustainable products are provided as well. In the opinion of this retailer purposefully offering Fairtrade products (e.g. for profiling) does not create added value. He is quite unknown with Fairtrade and where to obtain it. Factors to not provide Fairtrade products in the catering sector in Renkum: Product - The choice for products of this retailer is based on availability, price and quality in order to serve wide variety of customers in the middle segment of purchasing power. Sustainable products, like fish with the MSC label, are provided as well. Place - The coincidentally provided Fairtrade products are served at places where the conventional variants usually are served as well. In the case of for instance mono-cups with honey this is on the table of the guests. The retailer is unaware of availability of Fairtrade products at the suppliers and to which extent his customers are interested in Fairtrade. The retailer states that his suppliers do not put emphasis on the Fairtrade products in case the suppliers actually do provide them. After consulting the website of his coffee supplier it can be concluded that the supplier actually does provide Fairtrade and organic coffee. Price - Some products have a very good image (e.g. coffee from Illy or Peeze). However, these products are too expensive for the retailer. The same holds for Fairtrade. The prices for customers he serves (middle segment of purchasing power) should not be too high, otherwise the operating the business is economically not feasible. Larger companies, or companies in the high price-segment, are the ones who currently can offer Fairtrade products in a profitable way. According to this retailer the margins on Fairtrade products are too low: A fair price for a farmer means: not a fair price for me (restaurant 3R). For instance the price this retailer asks for coffee is 2,00. In case he wants to provide Fairtrade coffee, it has to be sold for 2,20 - 2,30. According to the retailer this is too much16. Promotion - The retailer prefers to keep publicity in the catering outlet simple. No posters, cards on the table and merchandise of beverages are shown, since the retailer wants his customers to trust the products that are offered are tasty and of good quality. The provision of Fairtrade is not

16

The costs per cup of Fairtrade coffee are only around 0,05 higher (assumed that a package of a kilogram of conventional coffee costs around 14,00 and Fairtrade coffee costs around 19,00; assumed that from this package 100 cups of coffee can be produced). It is unclear to which extent selling Fairtrade coffee is economically feasible in this sector in case the cost price would only rise with 0,05 instead of the 0,20 to 0,30 as mentioned by the retailer.

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communicated towards the consumers, since according to the retailer they are not yet dealing with Fairtrade. The image of the company is determined by the products offered (restaurant 3R). Supply - To the retailer it is unclear whether the suppliers offer Fairtrade products, however his wholesaler does so (restaurant 3R). Support - In general, the retailer is willing to provide Fairtrade products upon request of customers, inspired by colleagues or stimulated by local governments. As soon as the municipality favors Fairtrade, e.g. via the FTT campaign, the retailer states he will join that initiative too, for reasons of competition with similar retailers in the same region. The retailer perceives meeting the required number of Fairtrade products he has to offer in his outlet17 not very difficult (restaurant 3R). 6.3.2 The Sales Strategy

Fairtrade products are provided based on commercial opportunities evoked by the FTT campaign. Fairtrade is referred to as an additional selling point related to the increased awareness for sustainable food production. Retailers provide sustainable products to present a certain image and to be distinctive, which is based on the urge to enhance customer satisfaction (restaurant 4R and 5R). Factors to provide Fairtrade products with the Sales Strategy in the catering sector in Renkum: Product - Fairtrade products are provided next other sustainable products and conventional products. The Fairtrade products offered in this sector are mainly coffee, breakfast products and rice. The customers of these retailers prefer products that taste good and look attractive. Also to customers in this sector the Fairtrade aspect of the product is an asset. The retailers would like to provide more Fairtrade and other sustainable products. However, they cannot be offered due to limited availability at the supplier or since they do not meet the preferred quality level. Place - The Fairtrade breakfast products are provided mingled with the conventional ones at the open buffet. The Fairtrade products used for dinner are stored in the kitchen. Price - From an economical perspective it is not yet attractive or even profitable to sell many Fairtrade and sustainable products. In some cases the margins are adapted in order to offer Fairtrade products with prices not substantially higher compared to conventional products. One retailer reduced the margins of the Fairtrade menu he offered and asked only 2,00 extra. The price for the menu should be higher in case the same margins as for conventional products are aimed for by this retailer (restaurant 5R). Another retailer states that small difference in price, like 0,10-0,60 for instance for a jar of honey or pineapples, between similar Fairtrade and conventional products, is acceptable for the retailer when he buys those products at the wholesaler. Then the margins on the dishes that consist of Fairtrade products do not need to be adapted according to this retailer (restaurant 4R). Promotion - One restaurant does not communicate about Fairtrade at all. Fairtrade is not mentioned since customers are expected to be unfamiliar with Fairtrade (restaurant 4R). In another restaurant communication about the Fairtrade products is done with the help of Fairtrade labels on

17

Criterion 3 for restaurants: At least two dishes consist of Fairtrade ingredients and at least two Fairtrade drinks are provided (Fairtradegemeenten, 2011).

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products and the menu and via the Green Key certificate18. The information (the word Fairtrade and a written explanation of the Fairtrade concept) is communicated in the physical catering outlet and on the website. The retailer states that communicating about the fact that he provides Fairtrade products will not negatively be used against him (referring to prejudices and rejection by the customers), since the customers appreciate his contribution to sustainability (restaurant 5R). Supply - A constraining factor to provide Fairtrade products is the limited availability of Fairtrade products at the outlet of suppliers. Besides, to the retailers it is inconvenient and complex when many suppliers need to be visited in order to gather all the products needed. Support - The retailers are interested in expanding the number of Fairtrade products offered only when those products fit with the products already on sale (restaurant 4R and 5R). The retailers are not interested in a list with suppliers since they do not have time to visit more suppliers than they do already. The free publicity generated with the help of the website of the FTT campaign is appreciated. 6.4 Support from the local business association

The business association in one of the towns in Renkum states that they do not deal with subjects like CSR and Fairtrade. The main goal of the association is to support maintenance of the facilities related to entrepreneurship (keep shopping locations attractive for the inhabitants, arrange parking places etc.) and to keep it lively and livable for the inhabitants and retailers. The retailers do not ask the association for support and advise about the implementation of sustainability, they want to make decisions on their own since they behave like small kingdoms (business association 2R). However, the board members of the association recognize the trend of sustainability and consider it an opportunity to deal with when accomplishing the goals the association. The association can raise awareness about sustainability and Fairtrade during meetings with the members. The board members warned that retailers need (financial) teasers to do or to choose for something. They state that to get retailers involved in the provision of sustainable products, it should be profitable for them (business association 2R). 6.5 6.5.1 Conclusions The No Fairtrade Strategy

Constraining factors The retailers with the No Fairtrade Strategy do not provide Fairtrade products since these products are (perceived to be) hardly available at their supplier. In their opinion offering Fairtrade products also does not add value to their business. This opinion coincides with the conceptual version of this Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategy and is based on their need to satisfy the customers with products and related features they prefer. Those features, like taste, appearance, a fashionable nature and uniqueness, are decisive factors when the retailers decide on which products to offer. The Fairtrade

18

Green Key is an eco-label for tourism facilities. Green Key is a program of the Foundation for Environmental Education that promotes sustainable development.

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products provided at the suppliers do not meet these needs. The retailers offer other kinds of sustainable products, which are requested by their customers or provided to participate in trends in the market. The food specialists (in the food sector) state it is all right to ask higher prices for the products they sell, since customers are willing to pay a higher price for a product of higher quality. In the catering sector the prices for Fairtrade products are perceived to be too high. The retailer states he needs to ask 0,20 - 0,30 more for the coffee. Doing so would make selling coffee not profitable, hence not fit with the target group the retailer focuses at. Support to ensure that retailers in Renkum, who apply the No Fairtrade Strategy, start providing Fairtrade products in their stores can be done like this: The supply of Fairtrade products: Increasing the number of Fairtrade products at the current suppliers of the retailers with the preferred quality-price ratio. An overview with addresses where to obtain Fairtrade products is not desired by the retailers since getting more suppliers will make purchasing only more complex the retailers state. Stimulation by the municipality of Renkum: The involvement of the local government in the FTT campaign stimulates retailers to also provide Fairtrade products, since they do not want to lag behind their colleagues. 6.5.2 The Sales Strategy

Enabling factors Inspired by the aim of the local government to favor Fairtrade and sustainability, retailers can join this initiative as an incentive to increase sales. In their opinion Fairtrade generates a USP. The main reason for offering Fairtrade products is for profiling opportunities which are related to sustainability in general. However, extra effort is still needed to provide the Fairtrade products. To these retailers the quality and appearance of a Fairtrade product are decisive factors for selecting products at the wholesaler. Customers that are looking for Fairtrade products are welcome in the stores, next to customers who are not. The Fairtrade products are offered mingled with other products on the shelves. Price differences of the provided Fairtrade products are not there or, for the food and catering sector, at a low and acceptable level. In the food and non-food sector Fairtrade is hardly communicated about, except for the label attached to the products and a few posters in the stores. In the catering sector some retailers communicate about Fairtrade a little more, although not in a very elaborate way. Support to increase the number of Fairtrade products that are offered by retailers who apply the Sales Strategy can be done with the help of: The supply of Fairtrade products: An overview of suppliers can be of inspiration for the retailers to increase the number of Fairtrade products in their store, although the provision of these products at the retailers current wholesaler is the most convenient and effective option. Publicity: Uniform promotional material for the retailers who provide Fairtrade products and join the FTT campaign needed. Besides, reducing and simplifying the sustainability labels will lower confusion of both the retailers and the customers. The free publicity generated by the campaign is appreciated, however not the most important kind of support. 61

Conclusions and recommendations

The last chapter of this thesis report provides an overview of the observations from this research and aims to answer the main research question: Which entrepreneurial strategies can be identified for the provision of Fairtrade products in the food, non-food and catering sectors in Dutch SMEs in existing and emergent Fairtrade Towns, and what kind of support is needed to successfully increase the provision of these products? This question is answered by answering the sub-research questions through an analysis of the observed entrepreneurial strategies, accompanying factors and the support that is needed for successful provision of Fairtrade products. In the first three paragraphs these sub-research questions are answered. In paragraph 7.4 the debate is generated by reflecting upon the conclusions from the previous paragraphs. In paragraph 7.5 recommendations for FTT teams on how to support retailers to provide Fairtrade products and recommendations for further research and research designs are given. 7.1 The observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies

The goal of this research was to identify strategies that retailers in the food, non-food and catering sector in SMEs in existing Dutch FTTs apply to provide Fairtrade products. Sub-research question 1: Which entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products can be observed in stores in the food, non-food and catering sectors in Dutch SMEs in existing and emergent Fairtrade Towns? The Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies: 1. No Fairtrade Strategy Retailers do not provide Fairtrade products. According to these retailers Fairtrade products do not add value to the product assortment they offer in their store. The retailers perceive the quality-price ratio and availability at the supplier of the Fairtrade products to be insufficient. This strategy has been observed in each sector in Renkum. 2. Sales Strategy - Retailers who apply the Sales Strategy offer Fairtrade products next to non-Fairtrade products. Often other sustainable products are offered as well. This is done because of the commercial opportunity generated by the societal demand for sustainable production. To retailers in the catering sector the Fairtrade concept provides them with a USP, and the Fairtrade concept is communicated in various ways. In the food and non-food sector Fairtrade most of the times is hardly promoted, apart from 62

the Fairtrade label attached to the products. This is done since the retailers do not want to bother their customers too much. Besides, the retailers expect their customer to be familiar with the Fairtrade concept. In practice it turns out that the products are sold based on the main customer preferences, which are a products appearance and price. To the customers Fairtrade is perceived to be an asset. The Sales Strategy is applied in this way in existing FTTs and in emergent FTT Renkum. 3. Store Strategy This strategy has been observed at only one retailer in an FTT, who operates in the catering sector in an existing FTT. To this retailer Fairtrade is the main inspiration for its existence and thinks that Fairtrade in the future becomes an important aspect of products. The prices of the products are relatively low, this is purposefully done to enable each customer to buy Fairtrade products. The Fairtrade concept is not communicated in the store, since the retailer thinks customers select the products mainly based on appearance and price. Fairtrade is only mentioned at the website and frontage of the store, in the future it will be mentioned in the store as well as it is expected to generate a selling point. 4. Corporate Strategy The retailers who apply this strategy offer mainly sustainable products. Besides, they prefer these products to have a Fairtrade label too. The retailers are motivated to offer Fairtrade products based on the expectation that sustainability becomes a standard product aspect. Offering Fairtrade products is based on the intrinsic motivation of the retailer. The Fairtrade concept is hardly being promoted in the stores at first glance. These retailers want the customers to be attracted by product aspects that answer the customers main preferences (appearance and price). After this first contact of the customer with the product, Fairtrade can be used as a USP by informing the customer in the store and via the website. These retailers consider themselves to be front-runners in the emergent and irreversible trend of SCP. This strategy been observed in the food (food specialists) and non-food sector by retailers who operate in existing FTTs. The main conclusion considering the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies is that the Sales and Corporate Strategy are applied to offer Fairtrade products. There are no major differences observed in the way both strategies are used to offer and promote Fairtrade products in the stores. The Sales Strategy is applied by the retailer to use Fairtrade for profiling. Fairtrade products are offered based on expectations from the society about sustainable production. In this strategy Fairtrade is an aspect of the wider non-Fairtrade assortment. Retailers who apply the Corporate Strategy do so since they believe sustainability to be the kind of production practices that needs to be explored now in order to secure a feasible business in the future. These retailers want to get acquainted with the provision of Fairtrade products. Currently they offer Fairtrade products for the USP it generates, with the aim of ensuring that Fairtrade products become mainstream products. For both strategies the retailers first of all belief that Fairtrade consists of an USP they can currently benefit from. Secondly, they observe a momentum for Fairtrade products. Thirdly, Fairtrade and sustainability in general will soon become an important aspect of the products they provide. 63

A few conclusions about remarkable results about the strategies are important to mention. In the catering sector the Corporate Strategy has not been observed. These retailers have not been interviewed, although they certainly exist. The Store Strategy has been observed only at one retailer. The reason behind is that this retailer (who operates in the catering sector) does not offer products that stimulate sustainable behavior of the customers. This would be difficult though, since behavioral change of customers often is evoked by information on the package of a product. In the food and non-food sector this is possible to realize, in the catering sector however not: the products are offered on a plate to the customers and the product package stays in the processing room. The retailer who applied the Store Strategy only differed at this point from the retailers that applied the Corporate Strategy, otherwise he would be classified to apply the latter strategy. 7.1.1 Strategies of retailers in existing FTTs compared to emergent FTT Renkum

The Sales Strategy has been observed in similar manifestations in existing FTTs and in the emergent FTT Renkum. Retailers in both FTTs offer Fairtrade products for their profiling opportunities. Customer satisfaction is very important for the retailers. The Fairtrade concept has hardly been communicated about at the shopping floor. From the results it can be concluded that retailers in existing FTTs are more aware of the opportunities they get from the irreversible trend of SCP compared to retailers in Renkum. In the existing FTTs some retailers are quite pro-active in the way the offer Fairtrade products, e.g. by offering many Fairtrade products at several places in the store. Another difference between these FTTs is that in Renkum no retailers with the Store and Corporate Strategy are observed. In emergent FTT Renkum the FTT campaign is used as a selling point, which convinces local retailers to join the campaign and offer Fairtrade products. In existing FTTs the retailers are by themselves already aware about the opportunities of offering Fairtrade products (in relation to sustainability); often they offered Fairtrade products based on their own initiative. The fact remains that these retailers also benefit from the free publicity generated by the FTT campaign. 7.2 Factors that enable or constrain retailers to provide Fairtrade products

In this paragraph the second research question is answered, by elaborating on the factors that are observed to be the most important. The factors that have been investigated (see topic list in appendix II) by interviewing the retailers and FTT and retail experts are customer demand and market or niche of Fairtrade products; the price and place in the store; supply chain of the products (described in paragraph 7.3); promotion and the knowledge that is spread about Fairtrade. Sub-research question 2: Which factors enable or constrain retailers to apply the observed entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of Fairtrade products?

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The observed factors to provide the Fairtrade products are similar in existing FTTs and the emergent FTT, and also in stores of large and small retailers. 7.2.1 Preferences of the customer related to Fairtrade products

Enabling factors - As can be seen from the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies, satisfying the customer is the main focus of all retailers. The main preferences of the customers, also for Fairtrade products, are a products appearance and price. Product appearance is mainly determined by the package and for some products by the appearance of the product itself (e.g. fruit). According to the interviewed retailers and experts, the society increasingly expects food to be produced in a social and environmental friendly manner. Retailers perceive Fairtrade (to be more precise sustainable production in general) to be an irreversible trend in trade19, regardless the strategy they apply to provide Fairtrade products. However, Fairtrade products are not yet sold in large amounts, since customers appreciate Fairtrade currently only as a products asset. Still, an increasing number of retailers offer Fairtrade products based on their expectations that SCP becomes mainstream. However, when the appearance or price of the Fairtrade product is insufficient, these products are not offered to the customers, since the priority of the retailers is to satisfy the needs of the customers. Constraining factor - Sometimes Fairtrade products do not meet the criteria of the retailers (aiming to meet the preferences of the customers), then these Fairtrade products are not offered in the stores. 7.2.2 The price of Fairtrade products

Constraining factor - The price of Fairtrade products often is higher than non-Fairtrade products. Dutch customers are very focused on the price, therefore some retailers who apply the Sales Strategy choose to lower the margins for the Fairtrade products is done to satisfy the Dutch customers, since lowering the prices decreases the price difference between the Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade products. According to the retailers customers are willing to pay a higher price for Fairtrade products up to a maximum of ten per cent. The retailers with the Sales Strategy take the lower the margins for Fairtrade products for granted. The retailers get compensated by the USP Fairtrade offers them, and the profit they obtain from non-Fairtrade products. In case more Fairtrade products are sold by these retailers (for the price with (too) low margins), they need to make sure that doing so is profitable or change the price. Retailers expect that, in case many Fairtrade products are sold, the price for purchasing these products at the supplier are lower (referring to the concept economies of scale). It can be concluded that the price of the Fairtrade products is not a decisive constraining factor for the provision of these products. 7.2.3 Place of the Fairtrade products in the store

Enabling factor - Fairtrade products are provided next to non-Fairtrade products and sorted per product group (e.g. Fairtrade coffee next to the non-Fairtrade coffee). The non-Fairtrade products are often
19

An example here is the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative, which wants to accelerate and increase the level of sustainable produced mainstream commodities like cocoa, tea, and soy (IDH, 2011).

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conventional products, but increasingly also products with all kinds of labels and production methods related to sustainability (e.g.: Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified, organic or locally produced). Retailers are convinced that Fairtrade products should not be offered in single shelves, because when the customer walks by the shelve he will quickly forget about the option he has to select Fairtrade products. Retailers offer Fairtrade products mingled with non-Fairtrade products because they want to satisfy the customers tangible and latent ethical need for sustainable products. Doing so also creates demand for Fairtrade products, since repetitive provision of these products results in familiarization of the customer with the products. Often Fairtrade products are offered at eye-level of the customers, the place where they automatically grab for products. This leads to routinization: customers are stimulated to repeatedly purchase Fairtrade products. Offering Fairtrade products in the shelve mingled with non-Fairtrade products and at eye-level of the customers satisfies both the needs of the customers and the retailers. 7.2.4 Promotion of the Fairtrade products

Enabling factor - Based on the selected strategy that retailers apply, they have their reasons to promote the products out loudly or not. A few retailers, especially in the non-food (with the Corporate Strategy) and catering sector (with the Sales Strategy), provide information and images to the customers, both in the store and at the website of the company. These retailers consciously offer many Fairtrade and other sustainable products. They are inspired by the societal trend of SCP and can be typified to be pro-active, a qualification where Robins and Humphrey (2000) and Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009) refer to as well. These retailers state that doing so increases sales rates of the Fairtrade products they offer. In other stores, where retailers are not qualified to be pro-active, sales rates of Fairtrade products rise as well. Retailers in the food and non-food sector with both the Sales and Corporate Strategy hardly promote Fairtrade in their stores, although they offer Fairtrade products based on the USP its provision generates. As said before, Fairtrade is appreciated by the customers as an asset and not a decisive factor when they select a product. This is the reason why Fairtrade products are actually offered, but in a (nearly) consumer-silent way. These retailers aim for uniformity at the shopping floor. The retailers expect that in the future it becomes a standard (silent) aspect, a License to Operate as it is called. The latter has been observed in the food and non-food sector. This means that many or all products are produced in a sustainable way and will not receive extra (promotional) attention besides the label attached to the product. This applies to Fairtrade as well. For the near future both approaches are observed to be successful for the provision of Fairtrade products. For the distant future these approaches need to be reconsidered, since the USP generated by sustainability is expected to vanish and turn into a standard production process. 7.2.5 The provision of background information about the Fairtrade concept at the shopping floors

Constraining factor - Some FTT experts and FTT teams state that, for the provision of Fairtrade products, it is important that retailers have knowledge about the Fairtrade concept and that they should be able to explain it to the customers. The idea is that the people should be informed and educated to create attention for Fairtrade. As it is observed in this research, the retailers who successfully provide Fairtrade products disagree. Retailers in the food and non-food sectors usually provide Fairtrade products in a 66

consumer-silent way in the shelves. Besides, sales rates of Fairtrade food products are highest in supermarkets, where the managers decided to not actively communicate about the Fairtrade concept to the customers. Therefore, explicitly presenting and explaining the Fairtrade concept at the shopping floor is, according to the retailers the ones who actually provide Fairtrade products, not the most successful way to increase awareness for Fairtrade. Although these retailers are able to explain the Fairtrade concept, and upon request of the customers they will do so, most important for them is to focus on customer satisfaction. As concluded before, the main focus of the retailers is to provide appealing products that are offered with an attractive price. Therefore actively telling the story about the Fairtrade concept is not one of the activities to satisfy the customer when offering Fairtrade products. 7.3 Support for the provision of Fairtrade products

Fairtrade products are provided by retailers, who in turn are supplied by wholesalers or other actors in the supply chain. These suppliers play an important role in the provision of Fairtrade products. With help of external agents like FTT teams and NGOs this provision can be amplified. External agents can also focus on promotion activities. Successful ways to do so are presented in this paragraph by answering the third and final sub-research question: What kind of support can be given to the retailers in order to successfully increase the provision of Fairtrade products in their stores? The main enabling factor to provide Fairtrade products is that a retailer wants to run into those products at the wholesaler or supplier. Retailers are hardly willing to put more effort in purchasing these products. Relatively small retailers cannot always get the Fairtrade products they want. They say that the provision of Fairtrade products often is constrained by insufficient quality and volume of products offered at the suppliers. Therefore the FTT teams and the Dutch Fairtrade labeling organization Max Havelaar provide overviews for retailers (mainly for the non-food and catering sector) where they can obtain the Fairtrade products. However, most of the retailers are not willing to consult such a list, since they already have only little time for purchasing activities like ordering or visiting the suppliers. The retailers state that using a list would make their purchasing activities more complicated. Besides, retailers prefer to select the Fairtrade products by themselves and at their current supplier. Offering Fairtrade products at the suppliers is a crucial aspect for the provision of these products at the retailers. Therefore, effort is needed to make this work. Although overviews of suppliers are not always appreciated by the retailers, some kind of support by FTT teams or other agents is needed to realize the provision of Fairtrade products at the suppliers. Supportive agents like FTT teams can focus on the more broad types of communication and promotion. The shopping floor is not the area where they are active, only the retailers are. What FTT teams can do is promoting Fairtrade and the FTT campaign for instance during local manifestations or in schools.

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7.3.1

The role of Fairtrade ambassadors within the FTT campaign

Enabling factors - Advocacy by the so-called Fairtrade-ambassadors (the members of the FTT teams, retailers, an association of mayors etc.) stimulates retailers to provide (more) Fairtrade products. For some retailers the presence and activities of these ambassadors, and commitment of the local government to the campaign, are very important incentives to join the campaign. The ambassadors can emphasize on the USP of Fairtrade, since it is a decisive argument for retailers to provide these products. Besides, receiving attention for Fairtrade and the FTT campaign can be done in a successful way by presenting images and information about the FTT campaign in a uniform way. Promoting the FTT campaign can be done during local activities. As stated in the previous paragraph promotion activities of FTT teams should not happen the stores of the retailer (except for the very successful FT window sticker), but for instance during local sports manifestations. This makes offering Fairtrade products and joining the FTT campaign attractive for retailers. These conclusions apply in particular to the emergent FTT. Constraining factors - Large retailers and suppliers often have central purchasing departments, where Fairtrade products are already included in the assortment. In case these large companies not yet offer Fairtrade products, the Max Havelaar foundation lobbies at the central purchasing departments to increase the number of Fairtrade products offered in the stores. These departments operate at national level, hence reach beyond municipal borders. These borders are also the borders of each FTT. Therefore, stimulating the increase of Fairtrade products offered by large companies is beyond the scope of FTT teams. FTT teams are often financially supported by the local government. They need money for instance to produce the promotional material for the campaign. A lack of financial resources threatens the existence of these FTT teams. The Dutch government lowered the subsidies for international development from 2011 onwards. Although this can be perceived to be at odds with the governmental aim of sustainable procurement, which indirectly is implemented by the FTT teams, the FTT teams can try to get funding from other sources. Bearing in mind the trend of SCP, the market is expected to get a dominant role in offering Fairtrade and other sustainable products. Then the influence of the FTT teams on rising awareness for Fairtrade might decrease. 7.3.2 The focus of the FTT campaign

Constraining factor - The FTT teams are very focused on getting across the message of ethical (Fairtrade) entrepreneurship. They think the concept should be promoted in an outspoken manner to the general audience and customers in particular (which appeared to be not successful as concluded in paragraph 7.2.4). For the FTT campaign they want the Fairtrade principles as composed by the Fairtrade Labelling Organization (see appendix I) to be leading, instead of taking part in the trend of SCP. Although the national FTT campaign team appreciates products that are produced in any sustainable manner, and includes them in the criteria, they did not include sustainability in the promotional activities of the FTT campaign. The reason behind is to not dilute the message about Fairtrade the campaign team wants to get across. The FTT campaign might be right by doing so, since Fairtrade is expected to become one of the niches of sustainable products. But that will be the case in about ten to fifteen years. For now the 68

focus of the promotional material of the FTT campaign can be regarded too narrow, since sustainability is observed to be the general focus of retailers and customers. This should be kept in mind since the retailers and consumers sell and buy Fairtrade products, therefore they are the ones who actually practice ethical trade. 7.4 7.4.1 Discussion The position of the Fairtrade concept and Fairtrade products in the retail sectors

External agents, ambassadors or supporters as they are called in this research, promote Fairtrade. Promoting Fairtrade is legitimate since it supports sales of products that are produced by producers in developing countries who encounter little access to the economic market. However, the information campaigns about Fairtrade, that started to run twenty years ago, obviously did not yet lead to massive sales rates, or even mainstreaming, of Fairtrade products. Therefore the current practice of silently communicating about SCP is expected to be able to lift Fairtrade to the mainstream level. In addition, retailers (especially the ones who apply the Corporate Strategy) assume that the USP of Fairtrade and sustainability in about ten to fifteen years from now will switch into a standard production aspect. Then the question remains what mainstreaming implies for the Fairtrade principle and the availability of the Fairtrade products, since Fairtrade was developed to draw attention for improving the economic and social status of small-scale farmers in developing countries. In case the Fairtrade standards are met by each producer in the world and ethical trade becomes a standard feature of a product, then what will happen to the USP (by buying a Fairtrade product the customer contributes to better circumstances of particular producers) it currently generates? It can be expected that by then retailers will sell Fairtrade products with help of the Sales Strategy: the products are offered with hardly any promotional material at the shopping floor and the products will answer customer expectations (having a certain appearance and price). The sustainable labels, including Fairtrade, will exist next to each other in their own niche. The USP of Fairtrade might vanish when these products become mainstream, since products with a competing claim are offered as well20. Sustainability becomes a standard aspect of the products and competition might occur based on todays sustainability aspects like where and how it is produced. In other words, transparency of production practices and competition about the claims and quality aspects becomes more dominant than today. The Fairtrade principles will be communicated via the label and the website of the retailer. This is currently observed in supermarkets, therefore it is likely that this will continue to occur. Especially at the websites of the retailers sustainability aspects will be explained next to other aspects of the products, like food safety or quality. Possibly posters that refer to general aspects of sustainability will be shown in stores, evoking a certain ambiance for the customers.

20

This has also been observed in literature. Moore (2004) summarized literature that states that when Fairtrade will be provided as one of the mainstream products next to many competitive labeled products, the Fairtrade principles might vanish.

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7.4.2

The impact of the large number of sustainability labels on consumer choice compared to the Fairtrade label

The number of labels related to sustainability increases. In general, confusion about labels can occur when many labels are provided simultaneously. Due to an overload of labels customers also do not always notice them. This might hold for the Fairtrade label as well. Besides, the process in which customers get acquainted with sustainable labels takes a lot of time. It depends on the environmental concern and the extent to which the customers understand the label. Furthermore, trust in the labels is reduced by all kinds of claims made by producers (e.g. locally produced or natural) (Grunert, 2002; Thgersen, 2002). Of the sustainable labels, the Fairtrade label is widely known amongst customers. It is likely that this fact will contribute to trust in, and sales of Fairtrade labeled products (Thgersen, 2000; Wenban-Smith et al, 2009). As observed in this research, repeatedly offering Fairtrade products also enhances familiarization of the customer with Fairtrade products and the Fairtrade label (which is placed at the front side of the product package, often printed in a large, full colour version). The reverse sequence works the same, referring to the societal need of SCP. 7.4.3 The role of Fairtrade ambassadors

The availability of Fairtrade products depends on pro-active retailers, who are persons who are willing to go for it and who put extra effort in it to make it work. It is clear that also these retailers need some information where to obtain the Fairtrade products in order to make it work. In case there is a lack of knowledge where to obtain the Fairtrade products, an extended, online list of suppliers of Fairtrade products would be useful for these retailers though. Consulting this list should then be extremely convenient, otherwise the retailers will lose attention. Therefore a few recommendations to improve the list of Max Havelaar are given in paragraph 7.5.1. In case the FTT teams cannot exist anymore because of lacking financial resources, their support increase the number of Fairtrade products in stores would not be available: making promotional material, stimulating retailers directly and indirectly (via the local government) to provide Fairtrade products, and, especially now in the economic downturn, providing them with a selling point. However, as concluded in this thesis, Fairtrade is about to become mainstream. Therefore it is likely that especially private market dynamics become responsible for an increase of Fairtrade products. 7.4.4 Implications of the conceptual framework

The way Fairtrade products are offered in the stores is determined by a retailers strategy: the way how retailers provide the products in their stores. The Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies, as they are presented by Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009), were a valuable and useful basis for this research and the composition of the Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies. The provider strategies only slightly differ from the observed Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies in the way the providers present information and images about sustainable products to the customers. It is observed that, except for the catering sector, Fairtrade is hardly promoted at the shopping floors, while Spaargaren and Van Koppen observed

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that providers who offered sustainable products present information and images to the customers. This difference can be based on the fact the different product groups were targeted. The subject of this research could also have been viewed through the perspective of political consumerism: the choice and aim of providers to change ethically and politically objectionable market practices (Micheletti, 2003). These choices and aim are composed based on ethical and political attitudes and values of providers. According to the Theory of Planned Behavior of Ajzen (1991), solely focusing on a persons attitude towards certain behavior does not provide complete insight in his actual behavior. They say that someones behavior is influenced by factors like subjective norms and attitude, and that there is a gap between someones attitude towards certain things and the actual behavior related to that thing. In order to stimulate and increase the provision of Fairtrade by retailers, it is important to learn how and not why Fairtrade products can be offered to customers. The focus of this research was on Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies. From the results it becomes clear that retailers offer the products in the way they think works best, while keeping in mind the preferences of the customers. However, there are several reasons why the customers were not included in this research. The first and obvious one is the availability of time for this research (six months). Secondly, research on provider strategies for Fairtrade products, the point in the supply chain where the products are provided to the customers, is not yet conducted. Therefore, this research focused to a large extent on marketing processes, like the way Fairtrade products are promoted to the customers in order to increase sales rates. Rex and Baumann (2007) stated that the Fairtrade label is an important tool for green marketing. However, the market for Fairtrade products is relatively small, since deep green consumers are a small consumer segment to target (Rex and Baumann, 2007). Reaching a high level of sustainable consumption and production can be done by addressing a wider range of consumers, and broaden the means of green marketing by also including assessments of customer needs and promotion of the products. Promotion of the Fairtrade products is assessed in this research, actual customer needs not: those needs are only assessed by asking the retailers what they thought are the needs or expectations of their customers. The argument against assessing the role of customers is that consumers are not universal recognizable agents (Jacobsen and Dulsrud, 2007). Customers have many different opinions, attitudes and values that shape the way they execute the social practice of shopping. The same must apply to retailers, since they also practice shopping every now and then; eventually they are human beings as well. Besides, Spaargaren and Van Koppen (2009) composed the Consumer Oriented Provider Strategies partly on research that targeted the consumer. They suggest that building entrepreneurial strategies for the provision of sustainable products should be done by taking into account the lifestyles of customers. Based on these arguments, recommendations are given how to research the customers purchasing process of Fairtrade products. 7.5 7.5.1 Recommendations Important factors for FTTs and the FTT teams to focus on when aiming to increase the provision of Fairtrade products What can be said to retailers who do not yet provide Fairtrade products: emphasize on the profiling opportunities which are generated when Fairtrade is linked with the concept of 71

sustainability. In addition, prejudices (Fairtrade is hippie) that sometimes are related to Fairtrade hereby will be bypassed. Make sure the Fairtrade products are available at the suppliers (most of the retailers prefer this kind of support over promotional material). The Sales and Corporate Strategy are interchangeable for the coming years. Let retailers choose one by themselves and support them accordingly. The enthusiasm of local, pro-active Fairtrade ambassadors about Fairtrade enhances many positive reactions of retailers when these two get in contact. Often the retailers subsequently start to provide Fairtrade products. Use uniform promotional material for recognizability of the customer with Fairtrade (the FTT window-sticker is highly appreciated). The FTT teams can use the standard FTT material, but they can also consider to create their own in which they relate Fairtrade to sustainability. Commitment and active presence of the local government stimulates retailers to join the campaign. Join local initiatives to promote the FTT campaign. Link the story about Fairtrade with sustainability.

As concluded in this research there is quite some ambiguity amongst the retailers and FTT teams about where to obtain the Fairtrade products. This information is actually available. It seems that retailers and experts are not always aware of this. Although the retailers prefer the Fairtrade products to be available at their current supplier, and an overview of suppliers where to get them is hardly appreciated, somehow the retailers should become aware about where to obtain these products. It might especially be of help for retailers who recently decided to offer Fairtrade products. It is therefore recommended to have a clear and complete overview of the Fairtrade products available at the current supplier of the retailer. Such an overview is provided by Max Havelaar, who can link this effort with other promotional activities. At their website they have an overview of suppliers who offer Fairtrade products, called: a product search engine. Yet this list is incomplete for several reasons, and can be improved by: The overview of Max Havelaar needs to be completed. Not all outlets of suppliers with a chain store offer the assortment of Fairtrade products as mentioned in this overview, and vice versa. Besides, the Fairtrade assortment of the suppliers does not yet fully meet the needs of the retailers. Some retailers are not aware that Fairtrade products are actually available at their supplier. They also said that they do not know where to obtain Fairtrade products, and that they prefer these products to be offered at their current supplier. Therefore the list of Max Havelaar possibly needs to be extended with a dropdown-menu in which retailers can find the suppliers in a radius of certain kilometers around their store. 7.5.2 Research method: Criteria to select the informants and data collection

Most of the retailers that are interviewed for this research are settled in municipalities and places that are larger than Renkum. It can be expected that the type of customers and other influencing factors like 72

local governance, are different in a small or large town, and that this has its implications for the results. However, the observed factors to provide the Fairtrade products are the same retailers in existing FTTs and in the emergent FTT Renkum. It only differs for the way the FTT campaign can be promoted. Based on the outcomes of this research, the aforementioned differences are assumed to not have their impact. One of the interviewed existing FTTs consists of the same number of inhabitants as Renkum. In this municipality no retailers have been interviewed, which would have been logic for reasons of comparison with Renkum as the case study. Nevertheless, the main aim was to identify strategies of retailers who offered Fairtrade products in a successful manner. The retailers who were considered to do so are interviewed in relatively large and successful FTTs. For future research it can be recommended to include more municipalities of the similar size like the case study, since a few differences between the existing FTTs and emergent FTT Renkum have been observed, possibly due to its size. Another methodological recommendation deals with the presentation of the results. Since this research is the first one that made an inventory of how retailers provide Fairtrade products, it would be interesting to visualize the written presentation of the results with photographs. It nourishes the imagination of the reader. The pictures can be made by the researcher when he visits the stores of the retailers he is going to interview. The researcher should ask permission of the retailer to make pictures of his store and publish them in the report. 7.5.3 Suggestions for further research on the provision of Fairtrade products

Based on the results of this research it is interesting to focus on the position of Fairtrade within the landscape of competitive sustainable labels and products, especially in about ten years. Based on the governmental initiative of sustainable procurement, many governmental organizations try to increase purchasing and using sustainable products. Fairtrade products contribute to this initiative, since Fairtrade can be considered as an aspect of sustainability. Fairtrade tea, sugar and biscuits are available in single packages, which is very useful in canteens in offices. By using these products, governmental organizations partly achieve the aim of sustainable procurement. Entrepreneurs who provide such Fairtrade products play a role in this process. When aiming to investigate how to increase the number of Fairtrade (or sustainable) products used by governmental organizations, it can be worthwhile to focus on public-private collaboration. It is valuable to know whether results of an investigation with a similar approach like the current research, but from the perspective of the customers, leads to corresponding results. Assessing trust (a requirement for social practices to occur in the preferred way, here: purchasing Fairtrade products) has been done in this research for its routinization-aspect: the way customers routinely select and purchase Fairtrade products, albeit only from the perspective of the provider (the retailer). Actual shopping practices of customers should be assessed, just like the extent to which they scrutinize information presented by the retailer, a product shelve, the product package and possible labels, etc. In other words: focusing on similar strategies and factors as they were used in this research, only adapted to the perspective of the customer. Investigating the image of the product or the company that provides the

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product, the other aspect of trust, can be done with research that focuses on the perspectives21 and lifestyles22 of the customers in the middle segment of purchasing power23. Since customers are a diverse group of individuals, it is recommended to use focus groups24 to assess the shopping practices of the customers. These focus groups can be composed based on the aforementioned lifestyles. In addition, assessing things in a store where customers focus on (i.e. where they grab for products) can be done with help of the technically advanced Remote Eye-tracking Device. With this device the actual view of a customer on a product package or shelve can be mapped.

21

Assessing perspectives of consumers can be done for instance by focusing on product-related factors as proposed by Lauterborn (1990): Customer solution, Communication, Convenience and Costs to the customer (see appendix III).
22

Assessing of consumers can for instance be done in a way like the Dutch research organization Motivaction investigates lifestyles and mentalities of consumers. URL: www.motivaction.nl/mentality-uitgelegd. Date of access: 04-08-2011.
23

Focusing on customers in the middle segment of purchasing power should be done since they are the largest group of customers who are interested in sustainability, although they not yet actively buy these products. By offering Fairtrade products according to the product criteria of customers in the middle segment, sales rates of Fairtrade products will increase. The group of customers who idealistically select Fairtrade products will always remain small, and according to Rex and Baumann (2007) this is a small consumer segment to target.
24

Focus groups: a group of people who are asked by the researcher about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes about a product or concept. The researcher can focus on a particular place or situation where these groups operate (Marshall and Rossman, 2006).

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Appendixes

I.

The Fairtrade label

The Fairtrade label (figure 4) is a label attached to food and non-food products. The Fairtrade label can only be attached to a product when it meets the Fairtrade standards set by the international Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO). The Max Havelaar Foundation is the Dutch labeling organization which is in charge of licensing and promoting the Fairtrade label in the Netherlands. Max Havelaar is affiliated to FLO. FLO-CERT is an independent organization which regularly controls Figure 4: the producers whether they applied the Fairtrade standards in a correct way. The Fairtrade label Fairtrade label guarantees that the products are produced in manner which is fair (FLO, 2011). or sustainable for farmers, who are united in farmers associations in developing countries, and their employees. For certification a farmer needs to meet a number of social and environmental, generic and product specific standards. A few social standards of Fairtrade are: - the producers receive a price for the products that covers the average costs of producing, instead of receiving a price which is determined by dynamics in the international market. - the producers can get pre-financing and receive a premium which can be used for projects that stimulate sustainable development of the close surroundings of the producers. - Fairtrade aims for a trade-partnership between the producer and the purchaser, for instance via pre-financing. The reason behind the association and pursuing a label for these farmers is to acquire a good place in the economic market and to fight poverty (FLO, 2011; Max Havelaar, 2011).

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II.

Topic list of the interviews

The factors that are of influence on the provision of Fair trade products are compiled based the conceptual Entrepreneurial Fairtrade Strategies as composed in chapter two, knowledge about sustainability in food stores (Oosterveer et al., 2007, instead of factors, they call it variables) and the Marketing Mix (see Appendix III). These factors are used to compose the topic list (table 2). The topic list was used during the interviews to collect the data for this research.
Table 2: Topic list as used during the interviews with the informants. The informants are retailers, FTT teams, and FTT and retail experts. Topics Customer demand of Fairtrade products Aspects of the topics (factors) Customer demand for Fairtrade products. Type of products. Is there a link (which?) between supply and demand in the case of Fairtrade products. The market or niche Fairtrade products serve, the target group or type of customers who buy the Fairtrade products. Criteria of the customers to select a Fairtrade product, e.g. design, direct consumer satisfaction, exclusiveness, quality, naturalness, health, ethics etc. Relation of Fairtrade product in the store with sustainability (or: the intermediate segment). Visibility of the Fairtrade label, posters, explanation, pictures etc. in the store. Communication about the Fairtrade product, at or close by the product. Communication about Fairtrade in general. Communication about the relation of the company with Fairtrade How this promotion can be used to stimulate sales of FT products What are the experienced or perceived reactions on this of the customers? Place of the Fairtrade products in the shelves The impact of Fairtrade product next to non-Fairtrade products. Price of the Fairtrade products (difference with non-Fairtrade products). Which suppliers of the Fairtrade products. How many suppliers, for which Fairtrade products. Possibilities of expansion of the Fairtrade assortment. How (transport) do the products arrive at the store of the retailer. Knowledge of the retailer and the staff about the Fairtrade principles. Do they tell a story about Fairtrade to the customers or give information and an explanation of the labels. Why (not)?

The market or niche of Fairtrade products

Communication and promotion about Fairtrade products -

Place of the Fairtrade products Supply chain of Fairtrade products

Background information about Fairtrade

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Support to provide Fairtrade products

Future of the provision of Fairtrade products

What support to provide (more) Fairtrade products is needed, from whom? What support to provide (more) Fairtrade products can be offered by the interviewee. Cooperation, (how) does it work, why? The vision of the interviewee about the future for Fairtrade products in the store and in general.

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III.

The Marketing Mix

The Marketing Mix consists of four components of the provision and sales of a product, referred to as the Four Ps: Product, Promotion, Place and Price (Kotler and Keller, 2006; McCarthy, 1978): Product the products quality, features, package, size etc. Promotion the way customers are informed about the product: advertisements, public relations, sales promotion etc. Place location of the product in the store, distribution channels, transport etc. Price price of the product, discounts etc. The components of the Marketing Mix are modified to create a brand image and USP of a product in order to stand out from competitors. The Four Ps are the basis, and during the years a few components have been added (People, Periphery, Packaging, Presentation of the company), or adapted. For instance in the opinion of Lauterborn (1990) the Marketing Mix would be more successful when applied from the perspective of the customer. Lauterborn proposed to change the Four Ps into Four Cs: Customer solution, Communication, Convenience and Costs to the customer. For this research the concept of the Four Ps is used, since it focuses on how these Ps are used in entrepreneurial strategies, i.e. the focus of this research is the provision of products from the perspective of the provider (the retailer).

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IV.

Overview of the interviewees

Sector Food

Place in FTT In existing FTTs

The interviewee Food specialist 1 Organic supermarket Supermarket 1 Supermarket 2 Wholesaler 1 Food specialist 2R Food specialist 3R Supermarket 3R Clothing store 1 Clothing store 2 Gift shop 1 Gift shop 2 Wholesaler 3 Clothing store 3R Gift and clothing store R Cinema caf Coffee and ice cream store Restaurant 1 Restaurant 2 Wholesaler 2 Restaurant 3R Restaurant 4R Restaurant 5R Business association 1 FTT expert 1 FTT NGO 1 FTT team 1 FTT team 2 FTT team 3 Business association 2R Retail expert CSR expert Catering association

Date of the interview 13-1-2011 6-1-2011 12-1-2011 10-1-2011 18-1-2011 25-1-2011 26-1-2011 24-1-2011 17-1-2011 13-1-2011 21-12-2010 6-1-2011 12-1-2011 24-1-2011 25-1-2011 6-1-2011 21-12-2010 22-12-2010 10-1-2011 13-1-2011 26-1-2011 27-1-2011 25-11-2010 18-1-2011 25-11-2010 7-12-2010 1-12-2010 1-12-2010 26-11-2010 26-1-2011 23-11-2010 11-1-2011 10-1-2011

Number of interviewees 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

In Renkum

Non-food

In existing FTTs

In Renkum Catering In existing FTTs

In Renkum

FTT experts

In existing FTTs

In Renkum Retail experts -

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V.

Fairtrade Town Window Sticker

Figure 5: The FTT window sticker. The sticker is attached to stores where Fairtrade products are sold (Fairtradegemeenten, 2010).

Figure 6: The FTT window sticker on the frontage of a clothing store (picture by Gabrille Rossing).

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