Sustainable online shopping options is a credo every new age climate-conscious enthusiast is swearing by. While an increasing number of brands and corporations across several verticals have sworn to make their products greener. Finding genuinely sustainable products can still take a lot of time.
This is due to the tendency of companies to greenwash their products. And credentials to be more appealing to those consumers who want to make some planet-positive change. About 72% of North American executives admitted to greenwashing, according to a recent survey.
It can be somewhat of an eye-opener about companies’ commitment to sustainability and a question. Is it possible to find authentically sustainable, and eco-friendly goods in a sea of false claims?
The relieving news is that several platforms offer to do all the tedious fact-checking for you. Such platforms, extensions, and online ethical marketplaces are quite a one-stop solution to all your concerns.
We have listed some of these heavy lifters. Below so you can shop without getting worried about being lied to again. It’s time to pioneer climate advocacy and sustainable living through your cart! Hop on to the slow shopping wagon with the top 10 sustainable shopping options!
Extensions
Be Zen
Kicking off the list with one of the most promising and genuine extensions. Be Zen is your ultimate green shopping buddy. Led by its founder Ram Chaitanya, the extension helps climate-conscious shoppers find the real and raw deal- quite literally!
The extension is free to download and is available for US audiences for now. After downloading it and pinning it to your browser. Be Zen leads you to the most eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives to anything you are shopping for.
Apart from presenting all the green options for you, it also provides customers with exciting discount coupons they can redeem once they checkout with the listed product. Committed to making both your shopping cart and your wallet greener. The Be Zen chrome extension is an easy, quick and authentic way to shop sustainably without getting confused, or worse, deceived.
You can also check out their website and blog for the latest buzz on sustainable shopping. Lifestyle, food, fashion, pet care, or zero-waste living- Be Zen has you covered on all fronts!
Check out the Be Zen Chrome extension and website!
Progressive Shopper
If we take a shot every time corporations and executives have supported the most exploitative individuals and advents while lying to our faces, we will be swimming in tequila by now. And this is also why sustainable shoppers need to be on a constant vigil. With Progressive Shopper, matters become easier.
The extension encourages consumers to ‘put their money where their values are. It generates a comprehensive list of where your preferred brands align politically. In other words, it gives you a brief statement of the candidates and parties the brands fund and how they rank in comparison to their market rivals.
Progressive Shopper helps consumers be more aware of how their funds are utilized in supporting political agendas such as climate consciousness.
TreeClicks
Do you want to see a more tangible impact on the environment with what you shop? The TreeClicks plugin promises you exactly that. If you buy from any of their partner stores, the brand receives a fee. The amount is used to plant a tree, which is an excellent way to create green sinks and prevent global warming.
The extension can be used on both Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Besides shopping from their partners, you can choose which rainforest you wish to support.
Cooling the earth with trees while shopping for clearly better alternatives is a huge contribution, all made possible with TreeClicks.
Ethicli
Ethicli is a browser extension that helps you decide to buy from the most ethical and sustainable brands and stores. It also presents a report card of the brand you prefer.
From company ethics to alternatives that are better and more eco-friendly. Ethicli informs consumers of every aspect of the company they wish to go for. The extension is available to download for Chrome and Firefox.
Check any online store’s detailed ethical rating without getting lost in the dumpster fire of deceptive statements with Ethicli. Thanks to this powerful extension, you can be a sustainable shopper without being too confused and bogged down by details.
Altruisto
Altruisto is your go-to when you want to make a charitable contribution toward the world’s most urgent issues. The extension works when you shop from one of its partner stores, without paying additional charges.
Upon shopping from the listed brands, the store pays Altruisto between 2% to 6% of the proceeds from sales- you don’t have to pay any extra charges.
You can then choose to contribute the fee towards a cause you feel passionately about- curing hunger, donating medical supplies in Africa, or battling the global water crisis.
While the extension has a range of partner stores, it does not work on Amazon, which is perhaps its only drawback. Otherwise, Altruisto is a great extension that couples sustainable shopping with ethical contributions.
Platforms and Marketplaces
Verishop’s The Responsible Shop
Dubbed a luxury e-commerce platform with a personal touch and vision- Verishop’s The Responsible Shop is an aggregate marketplace, that offers sustainable goods across several categories.
Be it home and living, food, makeup, skincare, or accessories- you can see the most sustainable and trendy options on the site, each of which is made to last.
While its sister platform ‘Tastemakers’ caters to personal favorites from popular influencers, The Responsible Shop attempts to create awareness about social responsibility amongst customers.
The platform is easily accessible and helps customers sort their preferences according to their needs.
Made Trade
Made Trade is a popular sustainable shopping platform, where you will find ethical, Fair Trade-certified, and vegan goods in verticals such as clothing, cookware, furniture, and home goods.
Finding sustainably sourced and handmade articles is easy with Made Trade which thrives on the core values of equality, sustainability, and transparency.
Made Trade is a user-friendly platform with a voice- it is ‘ethically elevated’ and focuses on slow artistry.
Tired of the myriad trickeries employed by fast shopping practitioners? The platform will help you slow down the right way, while you support family-run small businesses and make the world a better place to live.
Petit Vour
Petit Vour is an e-commerce platform that helps customers shop for skincare, beauty, and fashion brands that are cruelty-free and vegan.
Since finding genuine articles with the stated labels is a challenge, Petit Vour has made it convenient by assembling several ethical brands on a single platform.
Committed to curating and helping customers opt for only the finest and the most ethical beauty products, Petit Vour is taking it slow and steady. Being ethical and beautiful is not a battle anymore where you have to pick only one side. With Petit Vour, you can be both.
EarthHero
Swearing by the goal to make sustainable living more simple for customers, EarthHero is a platform where customers can find goods that are suited to their cause. The website has an expansive list of values you wish your preferred products would embody.
It can be anywhere from being manufactured by a women-run facility, handmade in the USA, zero-waste packaging, or being vegan and cruelty-free.
Taking the ethical aspect of sustainability a mile further, EarthHero has partnered with the Eden Reforestation Project, which plants 5 trees with every order you place on the site.
The platform is taking sustainable shopping in the right direction by helping customers replace their usual shopping habits with more ethical and eco-friendly ones!
Ten Thousand Villages
Going handmade and going for goods made by vulnerable communities and skilled craftspeople is a significant aspect of sustainability.
Ten Thousand Villages is a platform that has brought these maxims together. Shop the most purposeful goods and gifts that are Fair Trade certified and give your life the artistic goodness it deserves.
Ten Thousand Villages aims to make a market-to-market impact that puts people and life first rather than profits. The platform’s vision to comprehensively address economic and environmental injustice sets it a class apart from other forums of the same kind.
Conclusion
Sustainable e-commerce platforms and extensions are trying to take matters into their hands by helping consumers transition to truly better goods.
These innovative efforts are handy since they save the customers’ time, and finances while safeguarding their trust from deceptive claims and sneaky marketing gimmicks.
Don’t forget to check out the honorable mentions in the list to lead an impactful environmental and ethical change as a consumer.
We still need to realize our power in steering the course of industries and lifestyles to cater to the planet’s needs and the communities that depend on it for survival. With the best online extensions and platforms, it is our moment to reclaim sustainable shopping the way it should be!
