The fair trade hypocrisy (2/2)

Last week, I had written about the fact that fair trade was not as equitable as it claims to be.
To review this article, please click on this link : http://retailcore-en.blogspot.com/2009/01/fair-trade-hypocrisy.html

Today I decided to approach fair trade by the retailers view. As you know it now, a product with the fair trade label is on average 10% more expensive than a traditional product. Moreover, these products are a growing success today. The retail sector needed to benefit from this occasion to make even more margins and profits.

Indeed, if the products resulting from fair trade are so well positioned in the departments in stores (approximately in middle height), it is because they are more expensive than the traditional products and especially because they bring back more margins. We should not seek further: increasing turnover and margins = increasing profits for retailers.

Distributors own brands (DOB) also try to benefit from this label. It is particularly the case of Monoprix and Casino, which are very present on this sector for all kinds of products. Let us take the example of the chocolate: Monoprix, Auchan, Champion, Carrefour and Casino have each of them chocolate with the label "Max Havelaar". Let us not seek hypocrisy further.

Unfortunately, one should not make us believe that the retailers worry about the margins of producers. It is of course a strategy to make even more profits. Moreover it is the goal of each company. So we cannot blame this.