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The introduction of labelling initiatives has provided an opportunity to introduce fair trade food products to the vast majority of the UK consumers via conventional retail channels. This case study outlines the characteristics and development of the fair trade concept, reviews the extent to which the major food retailers have incorporated fair trade products into their offer and discusses some of the current issues surrounding fair trade food in retailing.

Looks at the so‐called 7Ps of the retail market in the United Kingdom: product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence, along with customer service. Looks to address the issues of produce, placement, ethics and parasocial relationships, via a study of Fair Trade products in the UK retail marketplace. Defines what Fair Trade products are and how they are marketed in the UK. Sums up that it is in both retailers’ and consumers’ interests to build relationships with the growing Fair Trade ranges.

A global shift in ethical/sustainable purchase drivers highlights Generation Z (persons aged 15–24) as an important market for producers and marketers. Although much research has touched on fair trade consumption, very little has focused on Gen Z's consumption patterns. This study provides insights into and implications of younger consumers' motivations in ethical/sustainable consumption.

This research examines Gen Z's purchase intention towards fair trade coffee with the theory of reasoned action framework. Data were collected with a convenience sample, and analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling.

The research found a significant influence of knowledge of fair trade towards product interest. Furthermore, general attitudes towards fair trade had a significant influence on product interest, product likeability and convenience. Lastly, product interest and subjective norms significantly influenced Gen Z's purchase intentions towards fair trade coffee.

Findings suggest that Gen Z's shift in ethical/sustainable consumption revolves around their subjective norms or peer influence circles and contributes to the notions of self-branding, identify claims and social currency. Younger generations are digital natives, and social media has created a looking glass into their actions. This digital expansion has created more opportunities for individuals to monitor the actions of others and release information in real-time. Therefore, ethical/sustainable consumption by Gen Z can be used as a communication tool among their peers to project personal values and ideological shifts and to influence others close to them.

This study aims to examine the characteristics of ethnographic textile collectors and compare them with the literature regarding fair trade consumers to explore the existence of a possible consumption constellation between collecting and fair trade purchasing.

Purposive sampling was used for the study as it maximized the attainment of significant information related to ethnographic textile collecting. Qualitative data from ethnographic textile collectors (n=12) were collected.

Results suggested that collectors were interested in purchasing high quality, authentic products that expressed their identity and individuality. These are similarities shared with fair trade consumers. Furthermore, collectors' motives to help artisans overcome poverty were evident; a similar value guides fair trade purchasing.

The predominantly female sample of academics may not be representative of the average ethnographic textile collector.

Understanding the multiplicity of products and activities representative of one consumer group's lifestyle is beneficial to both for‐profit and non‐profit organizations in terms of product promotion or donation solicitation. The understanding of these consumers' lifestyle can, in turn, help marketers design and implement effective advertising and fundraising campaigns that improve the livelihood and wellbeing of excluded and disadvantaged people in developing countries.

The paper furthers the knowledge base and understanding of these different consumer segments by providing evidence of a consumption constellation between ethnographic textile collectors and fair trade consumers.

The purpose of this study is to examine how subjective knowledge about fair trade products and the perceived trustworthiness of information about fair trade goods influence purchase intention and reported purchase behaviour across two product categories, namely, fashion and food.

Data were collected from an online survey with a sample of 1,616 consumers in four European countries, namely, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK.

The results show that subjective knowledge moderates the positive relationship between intentions to purchase and reported purchase behaviour of fair trade products, however, the moderating role of perceived information trustworthiness was not significant. Furthermore, both the intention to purchase and reported purchase behaviour are significantly lower for fair trade fashion products than for fair trade food products.

This paper shows how fair trade consumption behaviour is mainly influenced by subjective knowledge about fair trade products. It reveals existing differences in both the buying intentions and reported purchase behaviour in different European markets.

This research broadens the understanding of consumers’ fair trade consumption behaviour across two different product categories and four different countries, with a focus on the interaction effect of consumers’ subjective knowledge and information trustworthiness.

The purpose of this paper is to examine young female consumers' purchase behaviours related to non‐food fair trade products. Interrelationships among beliefs, attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and purchase intentions in regard to fair trade products were examined within a framework of the theory of planned behaviour to arrive at an in‐depth understanding of young female consumers' fair trade consumption.

Using a probability sampling approach, 810 complete responses were collected via web‐based surveys from 18‐28 year old female college students at a large Midwestern university. Path model analysis was employed to test the proposed model and research hypotheses.

The results revealed that young female consumers' beliefs about the fair trade concept and product attributes, attitudes toward fair trade purchases, and perceived behavioural control in regard to fair trade purchases, were all important factors in determining consumers' intentions to purchase a fair trade product.

Several important strategic implications emerged in this study for fair trade retailers targeting young female consumers. The generalization of the findings to the US population may be limited because the data were collected from a small to medium‐sized community with a fair trade specialty store.

This study focused on providing insights for a previously unaddressed fair trade consumer segment – a younger female consumer group between ages 18 and 28. The results of this study may provide insight to artisan producers and retailers in expanded opportunities to distribute, market, and promote fair trade products to this consumer segment.

This paper aims to provide an adequate instrument to measure involvement, its antecedents and its impact on behaviours relating to ethical product consumption, using the case of fair trade.

Based on an in‐depth analysis of the involvement literature and the specificities of ethical products, a model is derived using a hypothetico‐deductive approach. It is then analysed using structural equation modelling.

The new construct specific to ethical products is a strong predictor of involvement. In addition, the involvement in the ethical aspect of products is much stronger than the involvement in the product category to explain selected consumer behaviours.

It is likely that highly involved consumers are more prone to participate in such a survey, which limits the representativeness of the sample.

Beyond the theoretical contribution for ethical consumption analysis, practical implications for fair trade marketing can be derived. A section of the article discusses how to improve fair trade products' communication, how to make those products more competitive, and who should distribute them.

Current generic involvement models are insufficient to apprehend ethical consumers, who constitute a market in constant expansion. This research fills this gap by providing an original instrument which distinguishes the product‐specific involvement from the involvement in the ethical values carried by the product.

The purpose of this study is to expand the knowledge base of Baby Boomers’ attitudes, behaviours and perceived barriers related to fair trade purchasing.

This study included 168 Baby Boomers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. Data analysis included a combination of both quantitative (descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests and correlation analysis) and qualitative techniques.

Findings indicated that the participants exhibited positive attitudes towards fair trade but were minimally engaged in fair trade purchasing. Furthermore, the participants perceived numerous barriers to purchasing fair trade products including the incompatibility of fair trade merchandise with lifestyles, the inability to touch and see fair trade products prior to purchase and difficulty in identifying fair trade items.

A limitation of this study is that the sample was well-educated university faculty and it is not representative of all Baby Boomers.

Fair trade entities need to be more effective in marketing the advantages of the fair trade. Fair trade organizations should consider targeting marketing strategies specific to the unique demographic and psychographic characteristics of Baby Boomer consumers.

This research expands understanding of the consumer behaviours of US Baby Boomers related to fair trade. An additional contribution is the comparison of differences in fair trade knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of Early vs Late Baby Boomers. It also has potentially important implications for fair trade organizations, as the paper discusses marketing strategies specific to Baby Boomers.

Consumers of the 1990s are claimed to be caring, environmentally and socially aware and are demanding a say in the production, processing and resourcing of the products they regularly purchase. Hypothesizes that the environmentally‐aware consumer has become ethically aware and is joined by many other consumers who believe in the principles of fair trade. The increasingly well‐informed consumer is not only demanding fairly traded products, but is challenging manufacturers and retailers to guarantee the ethical claims they are making about their products. Reports on a survey to investigate the factors contributing to the development of ethical consumerism in the UK, and provides details of the integrating features which it finds. Discusses the implications of these for management.

The paper aims to investigate the value of a network perspective in enhancing the understanding of the business to consumer marketing of high‐involvement product categories. This is achieved through the analysis of the development of fair trade marketing in the UK.

The paper addresses the research question through an analysis of relevant literatures from both marketing and other disciplinary areas. The paper is thus multidisciplinary in nature. Findings from a series of in depth, semi‐structured interviews with senior representatives of a fair trade wholesaler, of a specialist fair trade brand, of supermarket retailers involved with fair trade and of other fair trade labelling and support organisations are reported and discussed.

The relevance of an actor network theory (ANT) informed interpretation of the development of the fair trade marketing network is revealed. Its emphases on the processes of exchange and the role of human and non‐human actants in enabling interactions within the network are shown to be important. fair trade marketing is shown as occurring within an unfolding network of information exchanges. Analysis of this emerging network highlights a shift of emphasis in fair trade marketing from the fair trade process to fair trade products and, latterly, fair trade places.

The paper highlights the requirement for further conceptualisation of the business to consumer marketing of high‐involvement product categories, and reveals the potential of ANT as one approach to meet this need. The paper also provides a detailed insight into the development of fair trade marketing in the UK.