Answer 3:

Priority relationship for café direct

Supermarket relationships are critical since new relationships will further build distribution and widen
availability to consumers whilst closer relationships with existing stockiest could lead to own level
possibilities. No matter how well presented or how good the product actually is, it simply will not sell if
it’s not readily available to consumers. Although both Traidcraft and Oxfam have their own shops, these
distribution channels are not able to reach a mass market. It was essential that Cafédirect competed for
shelf space in the major supermarkets. The question was, which supermarket chain would be the most
accessible? On the face of it, the Co-op supermarket seemed like a good choice since their current
promotional platform emphasized the ethical nature of the whole organization, which they were able to
reinforce through the historical roots of the Co-operative movement. The unique appeal of Cafédirect
would complement this positioning very well.

This relationship can be further developed to build on the success of the launch through fair trade.
British supermarkets are giving the product a fair chance; the rest is really up to consumers and their
willingness to repeat purchase the brand on a regular basis. However, now that Cafédirect is supplying
most of the supermarkets, the buyer–seller relationship has changed and the call of the more strident
activists to ‘protest march down to your supermarket’ has become counterproductive. It is time for the
Cafédirect team to reassess their marketing strategy and to build closer relationships across their entire
network. The features were told by previous speakers. They should not depend upon the fair-trade
message alone to convince buyers. In order to compete, they would have to deliver real value to the
consumers and meet the needs of the supermarket buyers as well.

Answer 4

Summary:

Cafédirect, the company which emerged, has four partners (Oxfam, Twin Trading, Equal
Exchange and Traidcraft), each with representation on the Board. It has no full-time employees,
no production units and no distribution facilities. Sales became the responsibility of one person
working four days a week, and brand management activities were undertaken by Media Natura,
an agency which specializes in working for environmental and charitable organizations. The
mission of the Cafédirect enterprise was to pass more of the proceeds back to the coffee farmers;
A further objective agreed by the partners was to stabilize the fluctuations in the price of coffee
beans. In developing the Cafédirect brand, the group was planning to take on the giants of the
industry, like Kraft General Foods, Paulig and Lavazza. What is more, they planned to do it with
higher raw material costs, limited funds and none of the scale economies and marketing expertise
enjoyed by their rivals. They knew that they could not depend upon the fair-trade message alone
to convince buyers. In order to compete, they would have to deliver real value to the consumers
and meet the needs of the supermarket buyers.
It is a fundamental tenet of consumer marketing that corporate objectives are achieved by
satisfying consumer needs more effectively than your competitors. Since Cafédirect had no
marketing management, the task of planning how to provide this superior value fell to Bruce
McKinnon of Media Natura, the advertising agency which was working for Cafédirect on a
retainer basis. In order to identify consumer perceptions of what constitutes superior brand value,
it need a thorough understanding of changing needs, economics and the coffee buying process.
Ideally, the value proposition presented by the brand should be unique and not easy to emulate.
Cafédirect needed to inform their potential customers of the product’s unique offering and to
build up the brand. The choice of promotional techniques available for this purpose was further
limited by the nature of the value being offered to consumers. At the product launch, the main
thrust of the promotional drive was an advertising campaign with the strapline ‘Fair trade,
excellent coffee’. Advertising agencies usually strive for a single definitive proposition, but
Cafédirect had two important messages to communicate: the ‘help the world’ appeal had to be
balanced with ‘without sacrificing taste and quality’.

Cafédirect's brand positioning is based on two points:

1. It is “'the pioneer of Fairtrade”. They ensure that over a quarter of a million growers receive a
decent income from trading.

2. Quality. Their brands, Cafédirect, 5065, Teadirect and Cocodirect have the most elevated
standards of exquisite flavour and quality.