Oxfam Ireland – Fairtrade online

There are a number of challenges in niche markets (the subject of my talk at Barcamp Ireland) and these include:

• making money
• getting your message across
• distribution

Fairtrade has come a long way since the days of what was genuinely horrible instant coffee in the 1980’s. The products these days are acceptable to a western audience while still containing references to the cultures they come out of.

Distribution, especially in a country like Ireland, is still an issue. A couple of years ago Oxfam pulled their fairly traded goods out of the majority of stores (I guess issues around logistics were big there) and focused them on a couple of key outlets in Ireland. Which was great from a quality and presentation point of view but lousy for those of us who do not live in the major cities.

Today they have taken the logical step of launching an online store for Ireland. They are accompanying that with some net savvy marketing techniques (contacting blogs both in advance and on the day and runnng an adsense campaign) so the marketing challenge is (partially at least) being tackled in the digital world.

If you are looking for anything from coffee to corporate gifts to toys for the children for Christmas or even jewellery and crafts have a look at www.oxfamirelandshop.org

Well done to Oxfam Ireland and to Karl Cronin, the webmaster behind this. (originally posted in Pure Play)

keith