Responsible Retailing: What's in Store for 2008?
Last updated 1/25/2008 12:19:21 PM
The blue and green FAIR TRADE Mark first appeared in the UK back in 1994, on Green & Black's Maya Gold organic chocolate, followed by Clipper Fairtrade tea and Cafedirect coffee. The Coop led the way in fair trade food retailing, beginning with bananas and chocolate in 2000. Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose and Safeway followed suit two years later. Today you can choose from 3000 fair trade product lines, ranging from flowers and wine, to cereals and coffee. The Fairtrade Foundation estimates that UK fair trade sales reached over £300m in 2006 growing 40 per cent since 2001. Foundation Executive Director Harriet Lamb says this about her vision for 2008: "I believe that this year we will see a further shift as Fairtrade begins to shape the mainstream, becoming an everyday part of the way this nation thinks and shops". The Fairtrade Foundation goes on to say: "We hope to see more companies switching entire product categories to Fairtrade. Such switches offer more choice to shoppers in the UK and bring significant benefits to farmers on the other side of the world who for too long have been forgotten at the sharp end of international trade."
Source: Fairtrade Foundation
Marks & Spencer Chief Executive Stuart Rose has been a passionate advocate for ‘doing the right thing' and has put in place a long-term action plan. In his Plan A, Mr Rose says: " Doing nothing is not an option. Businesses can no longer ignore the challenges facing the world". It's a pity that more recent news about M&S has focussed on Jeremy Paxman's underpants.... In the supermarket aisles, Sainsbury's bucked the generally gloomy retail trend, by announcing like for like sales growth of 3.7 per cent in the run-up to Christmas 2007 (excluding fuel). A spokesperson at Sainsbury's was unable to say to what extent their free trade product lines had contributed to their good news. Interested parties are guided towards their annual corporate social responsibility report where the phrases ‘sourcing with integrity', ‘respect for the environment' and ‘making a positive difference' were in abundance. By the end of 2008, CSR advocates are banking on the link between ethical trading and company results being stronger.
Looking outside the large grocers, the link seems more transparent. The much quoted Innocent Drinks' - ‘ We sure aren't perfect, but we're trying to do the right thing' ( Source: www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/ethics/ ) - stance on ethical trading incorporates natural ingredients, responsible sourcing, sustainable packaging, resource-efficient business practices and sharing the profits. They have established The Innocent Foundation, which supports rural development projects in the countries where they source their fruit. Every year, staff at Innocent have the opportunity to submit a scholarship application to help one of the partners of the foundation. For 2008 the Foundation is supporting a Microloan project in Malawi. In terms of hard numbers, Innocent has gone from selling 20 smoothies on their first day of operation in 1999 to two million a week in 2007, giving them 72% of the UK smoothie market ( Source: IRI Infoscan 2006 ).