How GoodCarts Helps Goal-Driven Ecommerce Stores Increase Their Impact

GoodCarts is an innovative new platform for mission-driven ecommerce stores to retain, increase impact and gain new customers for free.

Targeted ecommerce stores sign up for FREE. When customers make a purchase, they have access to an exclusive discount for other product purchase stores in the GoodCarts network.

I sat down with CEO Steven Clift to find out more.

Afdhel Aziz: Steven welcome! Please tell us a bit about what GoodCarts is and how the idea got started.

Steven Clift: GoodCarts is a radical new way for eCommerce stores to increase sales and social impact without any customer acquisition cost. It’s free for brands.

We are powered by our member brands who have adopted post-purchase cross-promotion! Conscious consumers earn discounts and discover brands that give back. Our post-purchase “recycled traffic” model has even grown into an active community of like-minded impact entrepreneurs.

Since launching our Shopify app a year ago, GoodCarts has quintupled its membership and dramatically accelerated its growth with the global explosion in e-commerce activity.

We started several years ago when founder and entrepreneur Chris Dykstra came up with the idea of ​​creating a platform where impact entrepreneurs could promote each other and increase their profits and the impact economy. in general. Discussions had to be followed by action and GoodCarts was born.

Post-alpha, I was recruited to lead a “stealth beta” until our big public launch with our Shopify app in late 2020.

Our story of “growing together, winning together” is now a reality and is taking off.

Aziz: Congratulations on reaching 100 member brands! Can you share a few so we can get a feel for who is on the platform?

Clift: Sustainable products and processes, fair trade, buy-a-give-one, social enterprises, B Corps – these are all categories of retail that have a positive social impact.

GoodCarts proudly celebrates crossing over 100 goal-oriented retailers into our ecommerce network. GoodCarts makes it easy for retailers to share the love and conscious consumers to discover new ways to buy their values.

This image is an example of our discounts page. Once consumers have checked out member stores, they are given access to this page to explore other GoodCarts member stores.

We are so inspired by the impact stories shared by our members in our new showcase. These founders, their teams and their brands have a tangible impact on a daily basis.

Member stores include:

• Dean’s beans
• POWER
• Female Bean Project
• Ornaments 4 Orphans
• Passion Lilie
• Jali Fruit Company
• Ash & Rose
• Catspring Yaupon
• Just Anita
• Bean products
• Ecological dog care

and much more!

Aziz: How does the platform work and what is the functionality?

Clift: Conceptually, we “recycle” post-purchase traffic in the brand network. Why spend all your margins on increasingly expensive digital ads?

For interested brands: with our Shopify app, you can set up your store in minutes (literally). We actually serve most ecommerce platforms and the WooCommerce plugin is coming soon.

1. Ecommerce stores choose the “circle” that best describes their business – we’re best known for our hub of quality, enduring brands. But that’s just the start of affinity-based customer growth.
2. From there, retailers create a discount offer, which is key to converting new first-time visitors into paying customers.

There you have it, that’s all it takes to get started. We have optional personalization features and a selective block list feature that helps members avoid promoting their most direct competitors.

Participating stores were very pleased with their success – we have a retention rate of 95% among stores in our product buying circle. Discounts claimed with an email address after payment have a usage rate greater than 10%.

We have just launched our Made in USA circle and our small business entrepreneurship network is open to traditional retail products. Along with potential partners, other circles including BIPOC Ownership All Vegans, a Premium DTC Circle, an Ethical Retail Circle for UK and potential co-branded networks are in the works.

People often ask, with the free model at its core, is it too good to be true? It is both good and true. Listening to our members, we are working on paid bonus options ranging from featured coupons to channels for additional exposure through traffic partners. We’ve even had conversations with impact investors on how we can help them connect them with bottom-up brands.

Aziz: What invitation do you have for other brands that would like to partner with you?

Clift: Explore GoodCarts.co and check out the demo.

For entrepreneurs with an ecommerce store, install the Shopify app and get started creating a personalized offer in minutes. It’s free. For other ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce, SquareSpace, Magento, etc., just send us a message through our JOIN page and we can get you set up quickly.

When a conscious consumer makes a purchase at a GoodCarts member store, they will see a personalized thank you message with an invitation to take advantage of exclusive, time-limited discounts for other stores in the GoodCarts network. This builds brand awareness, provides a qualified referral, extends the impact and costs participating stores nothing. No risk, any reward.

If you are not an e-commerce brand, please sign up for our Impact Retail newsletter if you are interested in retail sustainability, impact economics, social entrepreneurship and e-commerce.

And, if you’re launching a new, sustainable brand (or even just thinking about considering it), don’t miss our in-depth articles and how-to guides.

Aziz: Finally, what does the future hold?

Clift: GoodCarts is on a mission to help 10,000 or more motivated entrepreneurs use commerce to create change. Consumers have spoken out and overwhelmingly prefer brands to take a stand and lead with determination. More and more, they put their money where their values ​​are. We’re working to unite goal-driven retailers and grow the Impact Economy.

We hope everyone will take a few moments to meet our community of change makers at ‘100 stores, 100 stories‘showcase:

The future is sustainable and ethical, the impact economy will eventually be known as the economy. Now is the time to tap into the needs and wants of conscious consumers.