Have a Contact-Free Fair Trade Sale
Offering fairly traded and organic coffee, tea, chocolate and cocoa to your community provides an opportunity to buy meaningful, high quality gifts and can even add some additional income for your own group’s special projects and programs.
Small-scale farmers around the world need your support. During COVID-19, farmers have been having a harder time staying healthy, continuing to do the work of planting and harvesting their crops, and feeding their families. Now is the right time to remind your group why fair trade matters. You don’t need to wait, you can still plan a successful and contact-free sale now. Follow these steps to make your fair trade sale a reality despite these socially-distanced times.
Choose the selection of products you’ll offer
Here are our most popular products that sell well because they make great gifts:
Chocolate Bar Collection Box: nine of our top chocolate bars for stocking stuffers or gifts
Solidarity Box: A variety of some of our best sellers in each category
Coffee: Sisters’ Blend, Breakfast Blend, Love Buzz, & French Roast
Chocolate bars: Dark Chocolate with Mint, Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt, Dark Chocolate with Orange, Panama Extra Dark Chocolate 80% cacao
Tea: English Breakfast, Peppermint, Ginger
Palestinian Extra Virgin Olive Oil: an excellent host or hostess gift as an alternative to wine
Cocoa: Hot Cocoa, just add water to this cold-weather favorite with milk already in the mix
Baking Cocoa: rich, unsweetened cocoa perfect for desserts or making your own hot chocolate
Because Equal Exchange products aren’t sold on consignment, starting small with your product offerings allows you to take pre-orders, fill a full case requirement, and get free shipping. It also reduces the chance that you’ll have any leftover products. When deciding what your product pricing will be, look at the unit cost per item in the case and just round up to the nearest dollar (for example, $7 for a 12oz bag of coffee or $3 for a chocolate bar).
If you’d like this sale to be a fundraiser, marking up the products a bit more will help you reach your fundraising goals. In many retail stores, 12oz bags of Equal Exchange coffee are sold for around $9, tea for $5, olive oil for $15, cocoa for $8 and chocolate bars for $4.
To view all of our product options, pricing and case sizes, check out our full wholesale case price list.
Promote your sale
Edit this template for holiday e-bulletins or newsletters to promote your sale at a virtual service, on social media, or in an email blast. Let people know which products you have for sale, the cost, how to order with you, and the deadline to order. For payment, a person-to-person payment app like Venmo or PayPal works well, or you can accept checks. Decide if you will offer delivery or if you will set a date for curbside pick-up in a central location. Your announcement flyer might look something like the example shown.
If you have more space in a newsletter or announcement to explain the mission for people who aren’t familiar with fair trade, try this example wording:
“Give quality gifts that give more! Equal Exchange products are sourced from small-scale coffee, tea, cocoa, and olive oil farmer cooperatives worldwide. Through fair trade, farmers are better able to support their families, protect the environment, and strengthen their communities. During the Pandemic, they need our support more than ever before.”
You could also show this Equal Exchange video, 2 mins
Order from Equal Exchange
Now that you have collected the congregation’s pre-orders, round up to the wholesale case pack quantity for all products. Order online or call the order into our Customer Service team at (774) 776-7366. There is no minimum order, but you can earn free shipping on orders of $135 or more. Pay by credit card or, if you want to establish credit terms with Equal Exchange, we will invoice you after you sign the agreement form. We will ship your entire order to one location, but it can be a home address.
How far ahead should you order?
We recommend leaving 10 business days for your order to arrive but check with our team at (774) 776-7366 for a personalized shipping estimate depending on your location.
Unpack and distribute
Once the bulk order arrives, parcel out individual orders into their own bag. You can have a contact-free curbside pickup at a central location like the church or synagogue parking lot. Or, if you have the ability to deliver the orders locally, let people know when you will drop them off. If people have not paid yet, collect payment.
Your community and small farmers around the world will appreciate the effort you’ve put in to make this fair sale happen during a very challenging time for many.
Have questions?
Call (774) 776-7366 or email us at interfaithreps@equalexchange.coop. We’re ready to help you plan.