Shoppers have always liked a good value, but these days it’s values in another sense that are also turning heads. In a recent Harris Poll survey commissioned by Google Cloud, 82% of consumers say they want to buy from brands that share their values.

But desire and action are two different things, which is why, even though Earth Day is so popular, it takes plastic-bag bans to get many shoppers to start bringing tote bags to Target.

Now, a Boise-based startup, Goodbuy, is promising to make it easy to shop consciously online. Yes, consumers can find plenty of curated marketplaces tailored by criteria important to them, such as being Black-owned or eco-friendly—and retailers like Target also offer similar filters on their sites. Still, all of that may rely on shoppers being more focused than they typically are when ordering sriracha on Amazon while watching the Ozark finale.

Conscious effort: Goodbuy is different. For starters, its primary function is as a browser extension that kicks in when you’re shopping online, highlighting the same (or similar) products from businesses that may be smaller, more diverse, and socially conscious.

• Shoppers choose preferences to prioritize, such as owners who are Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+, or veterans; or products that are certified vegan, cruelty-free, or American-made.

“The issue that we had up until this point was that it was inefficient and laborious to be a conscious shopper,” Cara Oppenheimer, who co-founded Goodbuy in 2021 with friend and fellow working mom Cary Fortin, told Retail Brew. “While on the other side, it’s hyper-efficient to be able to go to these mega-retailers and get the gratification you need, but it wasn’t fulfilling—it didn’t feel good.”

Shop-up windows

Like another browser extension, Capital One Shopping, which uses pop-up windows to alert shoppers browsing on sites like Amazon when other sites have cheaper prices, Goodbuy also relies on pop-ups that highlight other retailers.

• The retailers must meet the criteria of a small business set out by the Small Business Administration, whose revenue and employee limits vary widely, even among different categories.
• Goodbuy says its network encompasses 185,000 small businesses offering more than 19.5 million products.

“We have been growing steadily, and we are starting to really accelerate as a company right now,” Fortin said. “So we are headed in a really powerful direction.”

Click here to read more.—AAN

Last month we covered how Dopple is looking to make hay in childrenswear resale. But now, there’s a company carving out space in the secondhand baby-gear market. Toronto-based Rebelstork has introduced its resale platform to US shoppers.

Baby steps: Rebelstork, which debuted in 2019, uses a proprietary, AI-powered pricing tool called REV that can determine an estimated value on 10,000+ baby-gear models.

• Buyers in the US and Canada can use the platform to purchase items from baby monitors to strollers, all of which are checked by Rebelstork’s team of experts before anything is sold for quality.
• For sellers, its white-glove service—where Rebelstork picks up the gear—is now available in New York City, after only being in the greater Toronto and Vancouver areas. Though the company says it has rapid expansion plans for the service.

“Unfortunately, baby gear is not a Birkin bag,” founder and CEO Emily Hosie told Retail Brew. “It’s not appreciating in value. It is depreciating every year that you hold on to it.”

Fair play: Hosie, a mother of two who previously worked in merchandising at both TJX and Saks Fifth Avenue, said she started Rebelstork—now a certified B Corp—with the idea that tech could deliver a worthwhile customer experience for parents who are sensitive to things like costs and sustainability.

“Parents and consumers in general are digging into companies to be like, ‘Are you actually sustainable?’” she said. “They are making decisions based on that, definitely more than ever before.”—KM

Today’s top retail reads.

Dirty deeds: How supermarkets help to maintain the existence of food deserts with insidious lease agreements and deed restrictions. (The Counter)

Remember to tip the pilot: DoorDash and Uber Eats deliver by plane to remote villages in Alaska, highlighting the challenges of last-mile. “It’s not hot,” said Natalia Navarro, who ordered Chinese food from DoorDash. “It’s not fresh. But at the same time, it has the flavor you’re wanting.” (The New York Times)

Mink nothing of it: Faux fur hits the luxury price point. (Bloomberg)

Usher in a new era of work: Leave behind the disjointed apps, vague tasks, and complicated processes—and say hello to a better way to work. It’s all here in Asana’s U.S. Anatomy of Work Report 2022.*

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Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. A college student bought a Yoshitomo Nara ashtray at Goodwill for $10—and then sold it on eBay at an almost 30,000% increase.
2. There is a Texas beach you maybe don’t want to play around on, as discarded dolls keep washing up on its shores.
3. Diet Snapple is dropping the “diet” from its name.
4. Rihanna wore a solid gold brick as a necklace to the Met Gala to celebrate the theme of “gilded glamour.”

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Understanding Gen Z, in five charts
• Supply-chain chaos continues to drudge on
• Online pet-health startup Fuzzy makes its first acquisition