Sustainable Ecommerce

Welcome to Episode 25 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

Show notes: https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep25

Unless you’ve been living in nudist retreat for the past decade, I’m sure you’ll be aware that the fashion industry has a particularly bad rap when it comes to sustainability. 

With fast fashion, rampant over production, synthetics and a whole host of other systemic issues that are literally baked into the supply chain.  In fact, the fashion industry collectively is know as having the second highest carbon footprint, behind Oil & Gas.  

But of course, there are brands out there trying to change all that, and my guest today is an absolute champion for the cause. Zoltan Csaki is CoFounder of Sydney Based fashion brand Citizen Wolf, and their mission, literally stated, is to "Unf*ck the fashion industry"!

As you’ll see they’ve recognised that overproduction is one of the biggest problems with the industry as a whole, and over the past few years have been building out a new model for the industry based on a new take of made-to-order.

But with organic fabrics, carbon positive production, free repairs for life and now a fully circular product lifecycle, they are literally setting the new standard for sustainability in fashion.   

In my opinion, all of this makes them one of the most ground-breaking brands of the last decade, and it was an absolute thrill to chat with Zoltan.

Welcome to Episode 24 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

Show Notes:  https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep24

Sales season is fast approaching, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday on the calendar in just a few months.   

Classically they involve some of the year’s deepest discounts and can result in a flurry of purchasing. Indeed, if your brand sells on channels like Amazon, Black Friday can bring you a month’s worth of sales in a single day.

BUT, these kind of sales events can be a little problematic for sustainable brands.

Two of the biggest challenges come in regards to questions of how brands can afford such huge discounts if they are truly sourcing ethically with fair pay.  Indeed, should sustainable brands be supporting excess consumption / hyper-consumerism in the name of a sales event?

It’s a slightly knotty problem, and to help me unravel it, my guest today is Peter Krideras, founder of the hugely successful ClickFrenzy event, and now founder of the only sales event in the retail calendar specifically for sustainable brands – called Green Friday.

Green Friday kicked off for the first time last November, and it’s pretty clear consumers want this. In just a few days, their event page saw over 75,000 visits, as you’ll see, pretty much from a standing start. 

So, if you’re of a mind to rethink your Black Friday strategy this year, yet still get your brand in front of as many environmentally-conscious consumers as possible, Green Friday might be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Welcome to Episode 23!

Show notes here:  https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep23

Today I’m joined by Prisca Ongonga-Daehn, founder and CEO at Baresop.

In a nutshell, Baresop make powder-based personal care products, like soap, & body wash. You basically purchase re-usable foaming dispensers and refill them from home compostable sachets, completely avoiding single use plastics.

As you’ll see, Baresop has only been around a few years, but is on a remarkable trajectory fuelled by Prisca’s seemingly insatiable desire to live to her fullest potential and make maximum impact while doing it. 

Aside from the immediate impact of avoiding single use plastics, it’s actually mind boggling how many social projects Prisca’s team are involved in for such a young company. Truly inspiring! 

Welcome to Season 2!  

Show Notes: https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep22

I am very excited to kick off this new season today! We have an amazing line up of brand founders & innovators, as well as service providers working to make your brand growth that little bit easier.  

Now, over the past few years I’ve been lucky to work with, to interview on the show as well as study and deconstruct the approach of a wide variety of sustainable brands. 

As a result, I’ve seen a pattern of strategies and tactics that help deliver success, as well as traps that some founders fall into that really impede their growth. 

So today, I’m going to share those insights with you as 10 critical things to get right in order to unlock your growth and ensure your brand has the impact you want it to.

Welcome to Episode 21 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

Show notes: https://sustainable-com.com/ep21

In today's show I thought it would be useful to summarise a common thread that’s weaved its way through many of the interviews we’ve had so far, and comes up as a challenging topic in one form or another among every single one of the businesses we work with.

That topic relates to messaging and being able to tell your brand story in an open, transparent and compelling way.

This show wraps up season 1 - but we'll be back with season 2 in just a few weeks on Friday 2nd September. In the meantime please do subscribe, leave a rating or review, we really appreciate it!

Welcome to Episode 20 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep20

Reflecting back on the past few years of interactions with brand founders especially some of the guests we’ve had on this show, I’ve become more & more convinced that re-use and circularity represent the best model for sustainability.

In fact, I’ve come to believe that business models that work in this way are actually heralding in a completely new era of ecommerce.  

My guest today can only be described as Australia’s pioneer of re-use.  Jamie Forsyth is the Co-Founder of Keep Cup, which was the brand that basically started it all when it comes to re-usable coffee cups, back in 2009.  

He’s now spinning up another circular economy startup in the grocery category called Returnr and I could not think of a more experienced person to come and chat with us on this topic!

Welcome to Episode 19 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep19

One of the biggest challenges we face as our industry migrates to more sustainable practices is the ability for consumers to understand what they are purchasing, and be able to make informed choices about what they’re buying and who they but it from.

My guest today has a solution for that.  Kiarne Treacy is the founder of Sustainable Choice, a start up from Melbourne aiming to be the world’s LinkedIn of sustainability.

It’s a platform that enables brands to tell their sustainability story openly and honestly, and trusted place for consumers to learn more about the brands that matter to them. 

As you’ll see, there are heaps of advantages to creating a listing on the platform, and at the end of the show I’ll tell you about some special start-up pricing Kiarne has offered to help you get going. 

Welcome to Episode 18!

Show notes here:  https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep18

Today, I’m joined by the wonderful Jordan McGregor, Founder & CEO of Bare & Boho, one of Australia’s earliest success stories in the re-usable nappy, nursery and female hygiene space. 

Jordan takes us on a journey from figuring out how to make re-usable nappies made from sustainable fabrics for her own baby boy, through initial sell-out success on a Facebook live, and later break through moments like appearing on Shark Tank, getting into Aldi nationwide. 

Nowadays her brand is an international success with distributors worldwide, and we look at how her team are refocusing on direct-to-consumer sales and what actions they are taking to keep in front of the changing expectations of their customers. 

Even if you don’t know Jordan, you can’t help but feel a sense of pride in all she’s accomplished, and I’m so happy she’s shared her story with us.  Enjoy the show!

Welcome to Episode 17!

Show Notes here: https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep17

Today I’m joined by the dynamic duo of Hayley Clarke and Karen Platt.   Together they are serial sustainable brand entrepreneurs having started up female Fashion Label One P Designs and more recently the CandleXchange. 

We spend a little time chatting about One P, but the reason I asked them to come on the show is that they are right now (and at the risk of throwing in a non-sustainable metaphor) at the coal face of developing a circular business model based around swap & go Candles.

There is no doubt that recycling has its issues and so figuring out the reverse logistics to enable a circular business model is a potentially critical strategy for sustainability as well as being a very smart move for encouraging returning customers. 

I hope you find this as fascinating discussion as I did! 

Welcome to Episode 16!

Full show notes can be found here: https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep16

In today’s show we discuss the importance of brand story, and to help unpick how important this is, I’m thrilled to be joined by Bethany Westwood, former journalist, Certified Storybrand Guide and newest Member of the Sustainable eCommerce team! 

Currently, 70% + of consumers indicate they are seeking to make more sustainable choices, but the reality is that only 30% of people actually put that desire into action.

Just because your brand is doing things more sustainably or making more sustainable products, doesn’t mean your target customers will actually buy from you! 

One thing that all the most successful sustainable brands are doing  to attract customers and enrol them into their mission is developing a really clear and  compelling story, and weaving that into all points of their marketing. 

A brilliant system to help you do that is the Strorybrand framework, and so in todays show, we take some time out to explain what that is, and how you can use it to grow your own brand. 

To get a copy of our FREE Avatar Worksheet - Click: https://coaching.sustainable-ecom.com/storybrand-avatar-worksheet

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