Shop, shop, shop, shopify
Welcome to "Nouveau Monde", sort of a "Nouveau Genre" newsletter to better understand how to make the world better through the lens of retail. This is #6.
Hi there and welcome to Nouveau Monde ! In this newsletter, Phil and Anthony deep dive in retailers and startups innovations that will help make the world better !
A little background for you dear audience there : Phil and Anthony met in 2016 while they were both working at ZTP, a company dedicated to help retail businesses innovate. They took different directions but could not stand not having any project together, they are still interested in these type of topics and they love to share some stories about it.
Every week, they go deep on a some specific topics, Phil with its lens of no BS and Anthony (the geek guy in the gang) will talk about how it impacts climate change. Please subscribe to get fresh news on your inbox !
Turn your food waste into profit
by Phil
Swedish firm Deligate offers innovative tools that help retailers track and sell out short-date products. Its smart expiry date tracker uses best practice to provide a safe and time-efficient way to do date checking, making sure retailers can find all products that are about to expire in time.
Their B2C platform Chow helps retailers take these products, generate dinner recipes and sell them in ready-to-cook dinner bags, rather than reducing prices. Food products will, on average, lose half their value one day before expiration, but by adding value instead of price reducing, Deligate’s average Chow user doubles their margins on short-date products following this change of routine.
Even though the name of the company seems to indicate some wider purpose, Deligate has a very dedicated role in the food ecosystem. Created in 2015, based in Örebro, Gavleborgs Lan, Sweden, the company is a for profit that raised a Seed round of 800.000 Swedish kronas, then some more money with a private equity company called Swedia Capital. The country of Spotify, Klarna isn’t afraid to provide some disruption around.
According to Swedish consumers, the top 5 sustainable brands for 2021 are:
There is an official Sustainable Brand Index 2021 in this country. On the consumer side, the Sustainable Brand Indexâ„¢ B2C consists in a brand study on sustainability within the business-to-consumer market in Sweden. The study is based on research among Swedish consumers and shows how brands are perceived within environmental and social responsibility.
The Sustainable Brand Index™ B2B focuses on the largest business-to-business brands in Sweden across different industries. The study is part of Europe’s largest brand study on sustainability, since 2017. Sustainable Brand Index ™ B2B is based on in-depth interviews with decision-makers with purchasing responsibilities. In total, 75 B2B brands across 10 industries have been measured and analyzed on sustainability.
Sustainability is a sensitive matter in those countries in the North.
Deligate has recently join forces with Klinger Finland Oy to help retailers and grocery stores increase efficiency and reduce food waste. Klinger Finland is an import company in the technical trade sector. that helps their customers improve their operating efficiency by together developing thorough and cost-effective solutions, which enable them to reach their targets. The benefits and time savings of this partnership come from the fact that store staff don't need to go through all the shelves in vain looking for possible aging products, but only the shelves that Deligate suggests. In addition, waste decreases when the solution can easily print discount stickers to speed up the sale of products that are running out of sales time.
Shopify’s growth and what it means for climate change
by Anthony
Shopify was in the news recently for 2 major facts : first, it has announced astounding results.
In 2020, Shopify made $120bn in GMV (Gross Merchandise Value, the amount of money flooding thru its platform), almost the double of what it made in 2019. This makes Shopify the first company in valuation in Canada ($145bn) and shows that in this time of pandemic and lockdowns all around the world, people rely a lot in ecommerce and that small businesses have the opportunity to move away from Amazon and keep the independance, in a certain way. And maybe use a platform that matches better with their values.
Which leads to the second point : a few months after Stripe, Shopify announces a major contribution to carbon removal thru a technology named Direct Air Capture.
This technology hasn’t made its proof yet but there are many projects around the world that should be able to suck carbon out of the atmosphere a few years from now.Â
In the last 6 months, Shopify said it would pay two different companies that will, in the future, put out 15 000 tons of C02 from the atmosphere.
Shopify has a large range of involvements when it comes to sustainability, and this new pledge is just another one and we know this will not be sufficient to get carbon neutral by 2050 by itself.Â
A quick look at this chart tells us that our biggest efforts must be put on a quick and massive drop on carbon emissions :Â
But, how many corporations can tell that they have put $5 million in their sustainability fund ?
So, if Shopify continues its growth and enable retailers to easily put their products on the market, while providing solutions for its customers to become more sustainable, maybe can we see a virtuous circle rising ?
Bonus track
a brand new world !