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| Source: | LOHAS Weekly Newsletter |
| Published: | Friday, September 01, 2000 |
Say he moved to Nebraska, for instance. “Not that there's anything wrong with Nebraska,” he's quick to qualify, “but you might not be aware that you can get organic baby clothing if you live in Nebraska.”
That's one reason why McClain launched SociallyResponsible.com a year ago—to reach people who might not
otherwise have access to stores that are green-approved. His site is one of a growing number of Internet watchdog services that advise Web shoppers on which companies and products are considered environmentally and socially responsible.
In the six years since Manhattan-based Ecology America launched EcoMall.com, more than half a dozen similar Web sites have started up. There's Washington-based Co-op America, which has published the National Green Pages for three and a half years at www.coopamerica.org and recently launched responsibleshopper.com. The New York-based Council on Economic Priorities (CEP) lists ratings from its report, “Shopping for a Better World 2000,” at its Web site, www.cepnyc.org.
Other sites that have launched in the past two years include sustainable marketplace.com, hosted by Ottawa, Canada-based Center for Innovation in Corporate Responsibility; Los Angeles-
based EthicalShopper.com; and www.sustainabilitysource.com, a joint effort by Portland, Ore.-based Sustainability Source and Co-op America.
(Previously, Sustainability Source hosted greenpagesstore.com.)
The majority of these sites aim for mainstream consumers and list a variety of products ranging from spas to travel to food and clothing. “We're pretty mom-and-pop oriented, mostly mainstream companies,” McClain says.
While some sites have links to member companies' e-commerce pages, most sites see themselves as screening agents rather than shopping portals. In addition, a growing number of sites are publishing “green” newsletters or listing information they consider important to the socially responsible shopper.
Consumers are finding their way to these sites, particularly the two that have been around the longest: EcoMall and Co-op America. EcoMall reports 150,000 to 400,000 visitors a month, while Co-op America tracks 128,000 monthly visitors to its Web sites. Sustainability Source posts 30,000 users a month, and CEP's site gets about 7,000 hits a month.
Most people affiliated with watchdog services believe the proliferation of sites is positive. “A lot of Web sites are popping up that are green shopping sites,” says John Magee, president of Sustainability Source. “It doesn't serve much purpose to have another green store. Instead, [these sites are] helping green businesses.” However, he cautions, “It
is confusing because there's a mixture out there of really good companies and really good greenwash.”
Tom Kay, who with Marianne Schnall co-founded EcoMall.com, admits that there's really no way for a consumer to determine if a site is legitimate. But he believes the green world is closely knit and therefore able to police potential defrauders.
The best way for a consumer to determine a responsible shopping site's legitimacy is to inquire about how companies and products are chosen, and to keep in mind the proverbial advice: “Follow the money.”
All the watchdog sites aim to include socially responsible companies and products, but as McClain points out, the term “socially responsible” is subjective. “By default [it] means one thing to you and one thing to me,” he says.
Web sites' methods of determining social responsibility range from
EthicalShopper.com's 22-point questionnaire to EcoMall's more freewheeling approach. “If a company has one good environmentally correct product, that's good enough for me,” Kay says. He relies on consumers to serve as watchdogs and has removed some products from EcoMall because of customer complaints. The emphasis on consumer monitoring fits in with his goal: “Our purpose is to take organic and natural products and a sustainable lifestyle—as in LOHAS—and make them a mainstream way of life.”
EthicalShopper.com, which lists nearly 50 vendors and 300 products on its Web site, also chooses a mainstream approach, says Vice President of Sales and Marketing Rachel Prishkolnik. Visitors to the site can check to see if their favorite stores sell socially responsible products, and they can buy those goods without completely changing their shopping habits.
EthicalShopper.com focuses on socially conscious companies rather than traditional green manufacturers. “It's more important to treat humans well [than the environment],” Prishkolnik says.
Other Web sites also have extensive screening processes to determine a
member company's level of social responsibility. According to Carla Lukehart, corporate responsibility research coordinator, Co-op America researches companies through a variety of sources, including environmental, governmental and nonprofit organizations, along with newspaper and magazine reports. All companies listed on the Web site must be members of Co-op America.
Sustainability Source has an advisory council that includes representatives from CEP, Green Seal and the Green Business Network. Preferred merchants have to document their product sourcing policy and need to show “corporate policies that demonstrate they're committed to social and environmental principles” in such areas as workplace practices, community service, and membership in socially responsible organizations.
This September, sustainability-source.com began posting the list of criteria it uses to determine social responsibility, along with a list of the top-10 products that were rated highest based on those criteria.
Consumer watchdogs caution, however, that no matter how ethically a site may choose its member companies and products, the sources of a site's funding can influence those choices. Yet, since most socially responsible shopping sites are privately held, financial information is not always available to the public.
Consumers with questions can call or
e-mail officials at the company, but some sites don't reveal investors' names because of confidentiality agreements.
While Co-op America and CEP are nonprofit groups, the majority of socially responsible shopping sites are for-profit, though most of them are not yet turning a profit. Sustainability Source, which was founded two years ago by Magee, a former member of the board of Co-op America, relies on funding from what Magee calls “cause-related investors.” He wouldn't reveal their names because the investors asked not to be publicized, he says. Merchants listed on the site pay a commission to Sustainability Source on all sales. Part of that money goes to nonprofit organizations that host SustainabilitySource.com on their Web sites.
EthicalShopper.com was launched a year ago by Prishkolnik, who worked as a high-tech attorney; and Hanan Prishkolnik, who at one time was comptroller of Meretz, Israel's left-wing political party. The site has received two rounds of financing—the first from friends and family, and the second from Bold New World, a venture-capital firm specializing in natural products. The Prishkolniks plan to make the site
self-sustaining through a markup on suppliers' sales, along with paid sponsorships of content sections on the site.
McClain says SociallyResponsible.com is “currently self-funded.” He adds, “We're not looking for [venture capital] money and getting bought out.” He plans to make money by syndicating some of the information posted on the site, along with “some e-commerce,” including a credit card and checks sponsored by Socially Responsible.
EcoMall charges each of the more than 300 companies listed on its site a fee of $500 a year. Kay says there's seldom a problem getting renewal fees. “People look at their referral statistics and they renew with us. If a store does well, they might do $10,000 a week [in sales], with us as their largest referral.”
Kay believes that social responsibility and profitability can co-exist. “I'm living proof,” he says.