A new browser extension, ‘The Beagle Button,’ which presents consumers with planet-friendly, ethical products and services as alternatives as they browse, has today, November 11th, released new data revealing which products are most popular with ethically-minded shoppers.
From organic, vegan bamboo G-strings to solar power banks, the Beagle Button steers shoppers toward environmentally friendly purchases and reveals top-performing alternatives – among which are; organic cotton and bamboo, plastic-free floss, recycled jeans, zero-waste mascara, and reusable coffee capsules for Nespresso.
Open to the public for investment since October 1st on SEEDRS, the new tool (similar to Grammarly and Honey) has an innovative blend of artificial intelligence and language recognition algorithms, which provides consumers with alternatives as they are browsing in real-time.
Riding the wave of environmentally conscious, ethical consumerism, and with the goal of diverting at least £1.9 billion a year away from Amazon, Daniel Hemsley, CEO, and co-founder of the Beagle Button commented on the new product popularity results…
“It’s fascinating to see which products are proving to be the most popular green and ethical alternatives for shoppers using The Beagle Button.” We are widening our options and reach every day, so it’s great to see such a diverse range of products being chosen regularly by customers after the button has suggested them.
It just goes to show that whatever you’re looking for, whether it be a sustainable laundry bin, cruelty-free makeup foundation, organic cotton jeans, or even an organic bamboo G-string, there is almost always a green option out there!
“The results of how consumers are using the button so far have surpassed even our highest hopes. The click-throughs, the conversions, as well as the consumer and brand feedback, have been fantastic. It just goes to show that the demand for sustainable shopping is upon us. The potential positive impact is incredible – based on our modeling, the Beagle Button could divert at least 10 billion pounds a year by 2025, away from unsustainable purchases, towards verified green businesses and products. Of that 10 billion, almost a fifth should be from Amazon. That will be one of our keys focuses given the huge revenue that goes through their platform and the monumental impact those sales have on the planet.
“This is our number one goal. The climate crisis has to be tackled at scale, so we must adopt solutions that enable behavior change at scale.
“We are delighted to see such enthusiasm for the product so early on. It took just one day to hit our target, and we’re open to investment for the rest of the month. The more we raise at this point, the more people we can reach and the faster and more significant impact we can have. We know from all the climate data that time is of the essence, driving our urgency to expand as quickly as possible.
“The Beagle Button offers a unique combination of consumer psychology and technical know-how, which will impact consumer behavior at scale. We believe changing consumer behavior at scale is crucial to solving the climate crisis – this is a key driver for creating the Beagle Button.
“The vast majority of consumers, around 73%, say they want to buy sustainably, but the percentage who do is much lower. Beagle’s mission is to close this aspiration–action gap. We identified the top two pain points when we researched why people with good intentions don’t follow through, we identified the top two pain points…
“48% Don’t know how to find better products easily, and 38% find it difficult to change their habits. The Beagle Button has been designed to solve both these pain points for consumers. It does all the research so that consumers don’t have to, popping up on a desktop screen in real-time with a planet-friendly version of the very same product.”
Co-founder of Beagle Button, Tara Button, added: “It’s fascinating to see which products are performing well and capturing our users’ imagination. We are passionate about user privacy, so we don’t track individuals. Our anonymized data gives great insights into what the public wants from their eco-products and which products they are most willing to swap with eco alternatives. This information we hope will help the whole industry up to its game.”
“Ultimately, most consumers care about the environment, but it’s hard for people to hold a long-term environmental crisis in mind while doing back-to-school shopping or while looking for essential items. With the Beagle Button, the consumer only has to care once, download a free shopping tool and from then on, we care for you and nudge you with friendly reminders towards the more ethical, sustainable choices.
“As you can see from the past couple of days, there is a strong demand for this type of solution. It took a long time to develop as it had to pass rigorous testing, but it has been worth the wait!”
The Beagle Button is purpose-built to overcome widespread consumer resistance to changing habits by being “inherently sticky.” Unlike apps and sustainability-focused websites, which require consumers to get into the habit of using them, once downloaded, the Beagle Button will jump into action at the right time with no need for the user to remember to activate it. This element to how the browser extension works is crucial to ensuring the success of change at scale.
When a user visits a shopping page, Beagle’s proprietary technology detects it and uses natural language processing and algorithms to identify a match in Beagle’s database of approved products. If there is a match, it will pop for the customer in a matter of seconds. Users can customize their options within the program based on their values and their definition of “better.” Plastic-free products, organic products, vegan and cruelty-free products, longer-lasting products, carbon-neutral products, and products from minority-owned businesses, to mention a few examples, might be provided to them based on their preferences.
