In January 2000, Bjorn Klovstad, the information director of Coop NKL, responsible for marketing, PR and the company's CSR policy, was confronted with an enormous load of letters, faxes and emails. Norwegian consumers were advocating for coffee producers in the developing world by requesting the availability of fair trade coffee at the country's large retailers. Why? Prices for raw coffee had fallen drastically between 1994 and 2000 and farmers in developing countries were unable to respond to this decline by producing larger quantities. Companies the size of Coop NKL, the letters, faxes and emails said, simply have to help.

Considering the noise consumers were making, it was clear to Klovstadt that Coop NKL had to react. The question was: how? Would it be sensible to shelve conventional fair trade coffee in a retailer that focused on convenient products? Would those consumers that asked for the availability of fair trade coffee also buy it? Tricky questions!

How were Klovstadt and management at Coop NKL going to cope with this challenging situation?

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