Shoppers send clear signals on waste
A Wellington social enterprise has found more than 10,000 Kiwi shoppers want businesses to reduce packaging and waste over anything else.
Since September last year, more than 10,300 people have registered with Conscious Consumers and selected values that were most important to them when shopping.
Anonymous transaction information was collected from the shoppers so subscribed businesses could see what values customers supported most.
Conscious Consumers chief executive Ben Gleisner said: ‘‘We’re trying to build this system that pull businesses and customers together on to one platform. If you want to change the world, you’ve got to make it easy.’’
After tracking transactions for 10 months, Conscious Consumers found waste was the main concern for shoppers – an issue highlighted by the angry response when Australian supermarket chain Woolworths sold kumara wrapped in plastic.
A Waste Management Institute New Zealand study found almost two-thirds of Kiwis wanted to see a mandatory charge slapped on plastic bag use.
Gleisner said his platform was what businesses needed to avoid incidents like the wrapped-kumara uproar. ‘‘It signals to businesses that this is what [shoppers] care about,’’ he said.
Change in response to shoppers’ values is already under way at New World Island Bay in Wellington and Auckland Mexican fast food chain Mexicali Fresh.
Thorndon New World joined on Wednesday and Kathmandu recently signed up 47 of its stores.
But it is not just free marketing for businesses. They pay between $40 and $120 a month to subscribe, depending on their size. An accreditation system ensures they make decisions based on customer values. ‘‘Businesses don’t get to market on the platform until they are accredited by us,’’ Gleisner said.
‘‘We accredit them on the back of existing certification systems. They provide us with assurances of what they’re doing, like invoices from a recycling company outlining how many times they collect.’’ Gleisner said that although his social enterprise had been running since 2008, new technology tracking electronic transactions allowed him to go straight to businesses and tell them what their customers valued.
Last year, 22 investors put up $600,000 for Conscious Consumers to take off thanks to the payment system, and now the venture is in a position to go global.
Gleisner was chosen by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to take part in London Tech Week and would fly to the United Kingdom on Friday to pitch the concept to the European market.