Sustainable Business Ideas

VOLUME I, ISSUE 6 – 04-05-2001
Info-MONITOR
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS IDEAS

1)
Online hosiery store offers subscription-based deliveries

We’ve already seen the subscription model applied to a wealth of various industries, from indie song playlists, limited edition art, lip balms, and even to Swedish kitchen cloths. More in the vein of Manpacks and Panty by Post however, we recently came across Hoseanna, a US-based service delivering hosiery to their subscribers.
The online store is dedicated solely to hosiery, featuring brands such as HUE, Calvin Klein, Hanes, Bootights, Pretty Polly and DKNY. The product range consists of a curated collection of sheer pantyhose, opaque tights, fishnets, weekend-wear leggings, wool tights, thigh highs, and trouser socks. All of these are available as one off purchases, but it is the subscription service that sets Hoseanna apart.
With some tights only serving a wearer for one outing, constant trips to the store to stock up can become a time consuming chore. Hoping to provide a solution, Hoseanna enable their subscribers to set up scheduled deliveries of the hosiery they find themselves constantly replacing. The frequency and timing of deliveries can be selected to suit the individual needs of the shopper, with options for delivery each month, two months or three months. Signing up for the service is free, and Hoseanna will also send out reminder emails 10 days before the delivery is made — in case subscribers wish to modify their order.
The strength of subscription-based services is born out of the convenience they offer the customer — and everyone loves convenience. As such, the list of industries the model could be applied to is limitless, as is the potential for new subscription services to thrive. Hoseanna currently only ships to the US and Canada, so is this an idea ripe for exporting?
Website: www.hoseanna.com
Contact: www.hoseanna.com/contact-us
Spotted by: Wendy Francis

2)Renault connect offline approval to online Facebook “liking”

Many brands have struggled when it comes to converting a popular offline presence into online recognition. Hoping to remove any practical barriers to this process, and encourage instant online appreciation, Renault were displaying their innovative Facebook share pillars at the recent AutoRAI Amsterdam Motorshow.
The show is the largest automotive event in the Netherlands, and featured brands such as BMW, Lamborghini, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, Bugatti, Lotus and Jaguar. In order to stand out from the crowd, Renault cars were accompanied by Facebook pillars designed in collaboration with Blogmij. The 250,000 visitors to the show were invited to collect their free Renault RFID micro-chip embedded cards from the Renault stand, which they could then link to their Facebook profile. Once the card had been linked, simply swiping it in front a car’s pillar would count as a Facebook “like”, posting a link to that car on the card bearer’s profile. A video showing the pillars in action can be viewed here.
Those who think that smart phones have completely removed any barriers between the offline and online world take note. There is still plenty that can be done to bring the two spheres closer together, and as the off=on trend becomes ever more prevalent, we predict innovations such as these will become more and more common. Don’t get left behind!
Website: www.facebook.nl/RenaultNederland
Contact: jutta.vermeijs@renault.nl

3)Restaurants pitched against each other in online game

Is there anything that can’t be made into a game? Recently we saw Chromaroma gamifying London’s public transport system, and now we’ve discovered Tasty Duel. Through the website, the questions “where shall we eat tonight?”, or “which restaurant do you prefer” can now be answered through a series of online duels.
Visitors to Tasty Duel — built by US-based Eyepinch — start by logging in through Facebook. They are then confronted with two restaurants, from which they must either select their favorite by clicking the restaurant’s logo, click that they have never tried one of the restaurants, or skip the duel completely. All of the data from the duels is captured by the website, and once 20 duels have been completed users are able to view a ranked list of their favorite eateries. Once 50 duels have been completed they are able to see a list of the restaurants they have never tried (along with Google Maps links to find nearby branches), and 75 duels unlocks the list of favorite restaurants as voted by the Tasty Duel community For the website’s faithful, completing 150 duels will unlock the “Tasty Deals” section, which features coupon-based deals such as free drinks or sides at KFC. The website also features a Facebook share button, which automatically posts a list of the user’s favorite restaurants to their Facebook profile.
As we saw with Digitalkoot, gaming can be a compelling way of engaging audiences. With the potential to entice audiences in such an effective way, is it time to give your own brand a game of its own?
Website: www.tastyduel.com
Contact: hello@tastyduel.com
Spotted by: Zachary Love

4)Homemade meals delivered directly to students’ doors

Having recently written about the gourmet dining available from Air France’s roving New York truck, we now turn our attention to the other end of the food quality scale: student dining. Not known for being high on nutritional value, University student meals often pale in comparison to those once cooked at home. Hoping to bring a little of that home comfort and healthy eating back onto campus, we’ve now discovered US-based GW Bites.
The brainchild of George Washington University student Cristina Roman, GW Bites currently offers two different services. The first is the delivery of meals which have been handmade by a fellow GW student. Every Monday an email is sent out to GW Bites’ subscribers with details of that week’s menu. If the subscriber chooses to “opt in” on the meal, they will then see it delivered between 5 and 7 pm that Wednesday. The meal itself consists of an an entrée, a main and a dessert, costing a total of USD 11, according to a report on D.C Diners. The second service offered comes in the form of “Meals in a Jar”. Often students will look to make a one-off meal, but will be dissuaded by the cost of the ingredients — the majority of which they won’t use in their recipe. The “Meals in a Jar” service hopes to overcome this by selling just the right amount of ingredients for one meal — resulting in reduced costs. The jars retail for USD 5 for German chocolate cupcakes, to USD 10 for rainbow vegetable chilli. GW Bites claim that these meals would have cost USD 15 and USD 30 respectively if bought from a retailer before being portioned.
Hoping to build with the participation of fellow students, GW Bites is currently welcoming help from others willing to be involved as chefs, marketers or as part of the delivery service. Indeed, GW Bites seems to hold a sense of community spirit at its core, with recipe suggestions readily welcomed from other students (in exchange for a 50% discount off a meal), and 20% reductions available when a student refers a friend.
The primary aim of GW Bites may be to provide home cooked meals, but the fact that all these meals are cooked by fellow students helps create a sense of community. We wouldn’t bet against this being the magic ingredient! (Related: Dining insperiences, Parisian style.)

Website: www.gwbites.wordpress.com
Contact: gwbites@gmail.com
Spotted by: Sara Rose Roman

Prosumerzen Intelligence Team in collaboration with Springwise : www.springwise.com

Other info-monitors and newsletters :

SWF at : http://prosumerzen.net/2011/05/03/swf-world-info-monitor/
Green World at : http://prosumerzen.net/2011/05/04/green-world-info-monitor-2/
Sustainable Venture Capital : http://prosumerzen.net/2011/05/05/sustainable-venture-capital/

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