Worldstock Adoptive Principles
Corporations are often accused of disingenuousness concerning the socially responsible practices of which they boast, so suspicion haunts any firm making claims such as those outlined above. Consequently, along with the foregoing principles governing what products we acquire, we are also committed to the following principles governing our pricing, negotiations, and disclosure.
Razor-thin margin pricing
Some retailers buy goods that contribute to economic, cultural, or environmental sustainability, but then mark them up 300 or more, with the result that only a small fraction of the sales proceeds actually gets to the producers. We have decided on a radically different course. While a small profit is necessary to afford the ever larger inventories that growth requires, my dream is to price our Worldstock goods inexpensively so as to grow the department rapidly and spread the model to as many people as possible. So while the answer to the question, ?What percentage of the price actually goes to the producers?? varies by product, in general, it runs in the range of 60 - 70 of your purchase price goes to the producers. The remainder is pretty much entirely consumed in our own costs of importing, duties, handling, shipping, credit card fees and marketing.
Fair negotiation
I am a capitalist. As you read this, I?m doing everything I can to edge out the competition. That's how we sell TVs, jewelry, and computers at the prices we do. But that hypercompetitive mentality is not appropriate for Worldstock. When disparities in wealth, options, and information between two parties go beyond a certain level, negotiations can no longer be fair. We do not want to chisel Peruvian widows in order to ?get the goods,? and I have no doubt that socially conscious consumers don?t want us doing that on their behalf. Consequently, for this department, we do not negotiate roughly with suppliers, but rather remind them that if they charge us too much, we will not be able to sell their products or place reorders; lower prices to me will create higher volume for them. In effect, the buying behavior of our customers dictates how hard the producers themselves face pushback. I could think of no fairer system.
Transparency
Principled disagreement exists among proponents of fair trade.
For example, some Worldstock products are purchased from development organizations, NGOs, nonprofits and micro-credit banks, which organize producer associations and in some cases (landmine survivors, for example) provide training for producers. Some believe that socially responsible goods should be acquired only through such agencies to ensure credibility.
Others claim that limiting purchases to such agencies perpetuates a mindset of dependency, which says, ?An agency, not individual initiative, offers the only way to get ahead.? For example, imagine that in my own travels I find (as I have) a small workshop in a village in the Bekka Valley of eastern Lebanon, where a few women work together, making exquisite shawls. Their products do not carry the imprimatur of any UN organization or development agency, but in my view their wares are appropriate for Worldstock. Should I forgo the shawls because they lack the certification of an NGO, or should I trade in them to reward their initiative?
My answer to this dilemma is simple: transparency. We buy socially responsible products from reputable fair-trade importers, NGOs, micro-credit facilities, humanitarian organizations, and directly from artisans themselves. All producers sign a statement of principles concerning the manner in which the goods are produced, and we conduct our own investigation of such suppliers and their reputations. Therefore, a customer who trusts my claim that buying a given shawl contributes to the well-being of a village in eastern Lebanon can buy the shawl knowing where it came from. On the other hand, that customer might choose to buy only those products we acquire through formal channels, such as Rehab Craft Cambodia (an NGO building a self-sufficient business channel for Cambodians with disabilities). By providing sourcing information in our product descriptions, we minimize dilemmas about social responsibility: we are honest and transparent and let the customer decide.
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