Fairtrade: Motivations of customers to engage in Fairtrade purchases and the implications for marketing professionals

Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Trade and Distribution, grade: 1,7, Solvay Business School, Brussels (Solvay Business School, Brussels), course: Advanced Marketing, language: English, abstract: Since their introduction several years ago Fairtrade products have remained subject to low sales and failed to win satisfactory market shares. Investigating into the reasons for the observed underperformance the study will begin by analysing customers' motivations to buy Fairtrade products and their reasons to refrain from Fairtrade purchases. After the analysis of the various important influences on customers' Fairtrade buying behaviour, it will examine some of the implications this may have for marketing professionals. The study will conclude that some of the main factors affecting Fairtrade purchases are of demographical nature, while others stem from customer equity dimensions, before it will propose a number of possible actions to increase the success of the Fairtrade initiative. [...]