Share products are now also available from Aldi Süd, Decathlon, Müller and Rossmann.
(Photo: Share)
Dusseldorf If you want to shop ecologically, you no longer have to go to special organic stores. Sustainable shampoo, organic chocolate and fair trade coffee can now be found in almost all shops. The social start-up Share now also ensures that groceries that have a social benefit can end up in every shopping cart.
Share has just concluded a cooperation with Aldi Süd, Rossmann, Müller and the sporting goods retailer Decathlon. The start-up’s foods, such as sustainable chocolate bars, mineral water, flour, pasta and soap, for which the company donates meals and hygiene products, are establishing themselves even more broadly in the mass market. Share started in 2018 with products from Rewe and dm, followed by Shell, Ikea and the Deutsche Bahn bistro.
With Aldi Süd, the start-up is now penetrating the food discount market for the first time – and is thus cooperating with another of the most important companies in the industry. Both the new partner Aldi Süd and Rewe are among the four largest food retailers in Germany in terms of market share. Together with Edeka and the Schwarz Group, they cover almost 75 percent of the market share.
“We have entered into a solid cooperation with Share,” says Julia Adou, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi Süd. “Some of the existing items from the Share range can now be found on the shelves, but there will also be some exclusive products especially for Aldi Süd”. It starts with the nut bar on the shelf in the checkout area.
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Share offers a total of 100 different articles. For example, when buying a chocolate bar that costs 1.65 euros, a cent goes to social projects. The aim is to use the proceeds from a bar to finance a meal for another person.
The start-up works with the United Nations, the Berliner Tafel and the Aktion gegen die Hunger, among others. The mineral water is used to finance wells in Liberia, and the sale of chocolate is used to feed children and pregnant women in Senegal, as can be read in the Impact Report.
Donations of two million euros
“The total volume of donations this year is expected to be around two million euros,” it says on request. Last year the number of employees increased from 60 to 80 and sales grew in the double-digit percentage range.
For Iris Braun, co-founder of Share, long-term partnerships are particularly important for the success of her social brand. “We want to show that there is really commitment behind it.” Being social, explains the founder, is not only reserved for people who earn better, but can also take place among the general public.
Iris Braun is co-founder of Share.
(Photo: Share)
A study by McKinsey shows that of 1,000 people surveyed across Europe, 23 percent want to spend more money on environmentally friendly products in 2021. However, the study also found that 34 percent want to spend less on food.
Maike Gossen, expert on sustainable consumption at the Institute for Ecological Economic Research, thinks it makes sense to also offer sustainable products in discounters and thus to reach the mainstream in addition to sustainability-loving consumers.
“Using the market power of large retail companies to make sustainable products more visible is a strategy that is already being practiced by labels like Fairtrade,” explains the expert. “However, if social labels or sustainable products induce additional consumption because the sustainability aspect legitimizes the purchase, this must be viewed critically.” With consumer goods such as von Share, which are not luxury goods, she does not see “that materialistic overconsumption arises”.
For Share, it’s not just retail and drugstores. In December, the start-up plans to launch a new range of products with the online eyewear retailer Mister Spex. They want to bring out a collection of glasses together. With every pair of glasses bought, another pair of glasses should be donated to a person who otherwise could not afford them.
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