The Co-op is hoping sales of Fairtrade bananas will outstrip those of conventional fruit on its shelves over the next three weeks as it embarks on an ambitious price promotion campaign that is a first for both the Fairtrade movement and a UK supermarket.

Between April 28 and May 18 Fairtrade bananas will be halved in price to 85p a kilo in 2,400 Co-op stores nation-wide while mainstream fruit will remain on its existing price-points of 95p for loose fruit, £1.49 for organic and £1.39 for a pre-pack of seven fruits. The aim is to bring Fairtrade into the mainstream and the Co-op, which is footing most of the bill for the exercise, has high expectations of the campaign.

'The aim of this unique Co-op promotion is to bring Fairtrade bananas to a wider consumer base and to create tremendous awareness of Fairtrade generally,' said the chain's Brad Hill. 'We hope to encourage as many customers as possible to continue to buy Fairtrade bananas and also to seek out other Fairtrade products in the future.' Hill expects that more than two thirds of all bananas sold through the Co-op over the three week period will be Fairtrade fruit: some two million fruits a week.

The fruit is supplied by AgroFair UK and is being sourced from Fairtrade co-operatives which own the company in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana and Peru. AgroFair will bear a small portion of the cost of the promotion as will ripeners Fyffes and Chiquita. This is so that growers can continue to receive the guaranteed Fairtrade price for their fruit under the Fairtrade system.

This price promotion initiative is an interesting development in the banana category, which has become a regular battleground for supermarket price wars since the mid-1990s. Suppliers have often complained of the squeeze on prices being felt right back at source and the Banana Group has lamented long-term damage to the market on a product that is notoriously price-inelastic.

AgroFair UK director Duncan White is well aware of the pitfalls. 'In Fairtrade Fortnight the Co-op ran a 20-per-cent-off price promotion and there was a slight increase in sales afterwards,' he said. 'We understand that in terms of sales trends, bananas are largely price inelastic but we are expecting greater awareness of Fairtrade per se and for sales to settle at an increase even after the promotion.' He also stressed that the promotion was a 'one-off' with the Co-op. 'It has put its hand in its pocket to make the promotion work,' he said. 'We are happy to go along with it as it is not affecting our producers and they will sell more bananas and Fairtrade should see greater sales in the future.' Although the promotion initiative has come from the Co-op, White also confirmed that his organisation would be keen to talk to any other parties about other campaigns. 'The key concept is that the producer gets a fair price and this is what is happening,' he stressed.

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