Jubilee’s is offering several things to their customer. First, they are offering a physical object, whether it’s a chocolate bar, jewelry, or clothing. Secondly, and almost more importantly they are offering an experience. Buying a product from Jubilee can provide the consumer with a story behind the item, where it came from, who made it, et cetera. After purchase the consumer can then share this product or story with others. Third, Jubilee is offering the opportunity to give part of your purchase essentially as a charitable donation. As it was phrased on Jubilee’s website, “Purchasing a gift at Jubilee enables you to give in three ways – to the crafts person who created the item, organizations locally and globally that assist low income people and to the person for whom the gift was purchased” (Jubilee). Finally, they are offering satisfaction and built in positive reinforcement in your purchase. For example if the consumer buys a fair trade chocolate bar and dislikes the taste, they at least have “comfort” in knowing that they have helped support a chain of fair trade practices.
Distribution is simple in this case because there is only a physical store in which to buy the product. At this point there are no online sales, however, an online “catalogue” of products could potentially help increase sales.
There is an unquestioned desire or need for fair trade products. Even in the face of an economic downturn “global sales of Fair Trade products have risen by around 30 percent annually over the past decade (Transfair, 2009a)” (Hainmueller, J., Hiscox, M., & Sequira, 2011). What may partially account for this unexplained growth is that with such large disparities in wealth and living conditions between first and third world countries, many first world consumers are no longer content with the “buy whatever’s cheapest” mentality. Because the fair trade programs that have been instituted across the globe have been a major force for helping to alleviate poverty and to establish a more direct connection between producers and informed and sympathetic consumers, many of those consumers are relying on the fair trade system for not only consumption purposes but also for social and charitable purposes. There is a strong demand for fair trade products of all kinds because it enables consumers to live consistently with their values and beliefs. As an aspect of the human condition, people get enjoyment from acting consistently with their beliefs and values. For example if a person considers themself charitable or generous is given the choice between two identical products, one is fair trade and the other is not, they may often chose the fair trade product because it creates consistency between their beliefs and action.
In this case a consumer may see the essentially forced labor of many cocoa farmers, or the children working in the field and feel guilt stricken because of the stark contrast between life in first world countries and those that are less developed. Many want to donate or help but do not because they might be unsure about where the money is actually going or the process might be too complicated or difficult. However, “politicized consumption appears to be emerging as a mainstream political phenomenon: an everyday mechanism by which citizen-consumers vote with their shopping dollar to influence the behavior of firms and bring about political and social change, bypassing traditional political channels through which they might address the same issues”(Hainmueller, J., Hiscox, M., & Sequira, 2011). Fair trade products allow the consumer to contribute to a good cause extremely efficiently because the purchase requires almost no extra thinking or action, the