The German consumer space is becoming more and more attuned to the connection between consumption and sustainability in all its far-reaching forms. Fair trade product sales experienced explosive growth levels in the last decade alone. If in 2008 sales generated 213 million euros worth of revenue, in 2019 the figure stood at over 2 billion euros. But which are the bestselling fairtrade products in Germany? Based on recent figures, coffee, tropical fruits (mostly bananas) and various textiles were the top three product groups consumers looked for. Meanwhile, the fair trade certification extends to many other products, such as wine, flowers and confectionery.
The number of German consumers paying attention to whether the products they are buying when shopping are fair trade certified has grown in recent years. If in 2012 surveys recorded 11.2 million people stating they did so, in 2019 the figure had grown to almost 15.8 million. A variety of personal reasons were important to consumers when deciding to buy fairly traded items or products. Among these, the leading ones were being sure the manufacturer had not used child labour, fair prices for producers, as well as the quality of the product itself. On the other hand, there were also consumers who had their reasons for not buying fair trade. These reasons included products being too expensive, the desire to stay with familiar brands, or simply not feeling informed enough about fair trade.
