Gleen
Money talks. We translate.
Introduction
Sustainable consumption is a megatrend. 61% of Gen Z and Millenial consumers prefer to buy from sustainable brands. 71% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products. 57% of consumers are willing to change their spending habits to reduce negative impact. Our beachhead market is high-income, left-leaning, sustainability-conscious, educated Gen Z and Millennial consumers who believe their consumption is an extension of their identity. These users are eager to understand and manage the non-financial impact of their consumption and are enthusiastic to make sustainable behavior modifications.
This market opportunity spans beyond the modern liberal zeitgiest. We’ve found that consumers wanting to align their spending with their values is a trend that goes beyond our current focus on sustainability-minded individuals and spans across many different ideologies, backgrounds, and political affiliations. People may value different things, but across the board people are feeling the need to align their spending with their values.
Problem
In our 200+ conversations and survey responses, we’ve confirmed firsthand how difficult it is for sustainably minded consumers to understand the ESG practices of the companies they shop with. Our beachhead consumers want to support companies that align with their values, but face significant barriers to doing so. When our beachhead users try to research how sustainable a company and its products are, they are left to reconcile promoted corporate marketing collateral, news reports of controversies, opaque ESG financial ratings, and acronyms and certifications they don’t understand. The process is time consuming and demoralizing: corporate "party line" sustainability narratives aren't perceived as trustworthy and objective data is hard to find and tedious to sort through. Even when passionate consumers put in the effort to shop thier values, their purchase decisions often feel more symbolic than effective as they perceive themeslves to be relatively insignificant in comparison to corporate behemoths. They are skeptical that their personal transactions really have the power move the needle.
Opportunity
The gleen app links to a user’s financial accounts and matches their transaction history with ESG metrics from best-in-class academic, corporate and governmental datasets. Users can dig into objective corporate impact data for each of their transactions; our “gleen score” quantifies how planet & people friendly a user’s overall consumption is. We share community-level analytics that highlight how thier individual purchase decisions contribute directly to a larger movement. We share recommendations for low-lift, sustainable swaps that will improve a user’s score. When a user shops with one of our net-positive partners, gleen earns an affiliate fee.
We’re plugging into a robust, mature ecosystem of brands who already rely on affiliate marketing channels for customer acquisition; 80% of brands have some degree of existing affiliate infrastructure. In service of building an engaged community of sustainable shoppers, gleen shares the affiliate fees we earn from our partners with our users who generate them, effectively a cash-back reward for supporting sustainable businesses. Once we scale this community, we’re looking forward to introducing higher margin product offerings like B2B consumer insights and sentiment analytics.