KendalFairTrade

Fairtrade Requirements For Business

If you are a retailer or manufacturer you may well be pondering how you can get involved in marketing your products as Fairtrade or how to sell them. First we will take a look at the manufacturing process, how to register and benefit from the association and playing a part in the ethical food supply.

It is much easier than you may believe, to enjoy the marketing potential of the Fairtrade Foundation mark and to swap supply chains for certain products. For example, you need only show that an individual product is 100% Fairtrade sourced or composite products are at least 20% Fairtrade ingredients, to qualify.

The rest can be from anywhere, however from an ethical point of view, you should be adding Fairtrade ingredients to your mix to show faith in the system and a belief in offering workers a fair price for what they produce. Whether you are selling locally or in international markets, there are certain rules which need to be applied. The foundations needs to certify all products and trace back ingredients to the originating supplier in an effort to ascertain a product's authenticity. Once certified and licensed you will then need to offer the Foundation all packaging artwork containing the fair-trade mark for approval.

The Costs Of Fairtrade Business And The License Fee

Within any international organisation which is both a charity and one that sets its sights on changing the global economy so it is more ethical. There are fees concerned with the branding. Often an association allows all who qualify to brand their goods with their emblem for a set fee.

The set up is a little different with the Fairtrade Foundation however. Once you have applied and received permission to join the foundation and show the mark on your products, you will be given a gratis period before being required to license fee contributions.

The minimum fee expected for brand rights is £100 a quarter. After 15 months there is then an accounting system which claws back from 1.7% down to 0.2% of total merchandise sales based on incremental sales figures up to £160 million. There is a further incentive which can cut this rate by up to 50%.

Is the licence fee worth it? Absolutely. The marketing which goes into fair-trade, the ethical movement and the way your brand will be viewed by the public is nothing but positive. Retailers will go out of their way to stock your product based on its initial values, as well as the food or items you have manufactured.