© Handmade Expressions Fair Trade Survey Results Goal: To understand the perception of social responsibility among conscious consumers in order to design effective marketing campaigns for the Fair Trade movement and its products. Special thanks to a team of students of The University of Texas at Austin for their help with analyzing the results.

© Handmade Expressions Survey design 11 questions (multiple choice & open end) – 197 people responded Looking for attitudes towards social responsibility in general – Figure out what messages people respond to Administered online and in Austin – At the University of Texas campus – In progressive areas containing retail stores, restaurants and coffee shops

© Handmade Expressions Key finding 1 “Fair Trade” aspect ranks third after quality and price Recommendation: to compete with regular products, make a great quality product and emphasize this (don’t waste too many marketing dollars in the “Fair Trade” image – you probably already have it)

© Handmade Expressions Key finding 2 The most important factor in people’s minds was the one that they could relate to the most as humans and employees themselves. Recommendation: Highlight the fair wages and human rights aspects of Fair Trade in your marketing materials, since people will relate to these. % of people who think the following factors are important when purchasing an item

© Handmade Expressions Key finding 3 The people that respond more positively to messages of social responsibility are aged 25 – 34. Recommendation: Many assume that college students and older women (over 35 years old) are the key markets for Fair Trade. We would recommend targeting a crowd older than college students (they also have more income), in addition to the over 35 crowd.

© Handmade Expressions Key finding 4 The people interviewed responded that they find out about a product and buy it thanks to word of mouth or websites. Recommendation: Invest in your website! First, make sure the design is great, easy to navigate and check out. Second, promote it and make sure people visit it. Third, add product ratings, comments, reviews, etc. so that people see what others think of your products. Top information sources that influence the purchasing decision

© Handmade Expressions Key finding 5 People with high incomes responded that they buy most often online, followed by a boutique. Recommendation: Get a website and invest in it! Make it look great, have an easy shopping experience, and make sure people find it.

© Handmade Expressions Key finding 6 People who responded that they bought 6 gifts or more (irrelevant of income) in the last month buy most often in boutiques, followed by online. Recommendation: Apart from having a great website, you should also invest in training your employees and having educational materials in your store.

© Handmade Expressions Conclusions Women respond most favorably to social responsibility messages. Design marketing materials aimed at women. The age group respond more favorably to socially responsible messaging. People identify with fair wages and employee treatment. Wealthy people and people who buy gifts often tend to do it online and in boutiques. A great website, product reviews, and well trained sales people will help you sell.

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