If you’d have asked me a few years ago what the circular economy meant - I’d have probably taken a guess - “Is it any form of commerce that related to items with a circular shape - so a shop that sells tyres, plates, frisbees!?” - of course I would have been quite wrong ☺️
The circular economy is in fact about selling products that can be sold, or rented, and can then be reutilised and repaired going forward. This largely prevents the issue of waste - many products are still manufactured in such a way so that they become unusable after a period of time.
Apple were famous for their use of what is termed planned planned obsolescence - whereby models of older iPhones would be unusable after so many years and customers would be forced to pay for a new model (let's all cheer for capitalism!)
A nice example of the circular economy in practice might be the sale of a product which is repairable, and as a bonus comes with natural packaging which is compostable.
To give a real world example, IKEA have begun to encourage people to sell-back their own purchases to select stores, where they will then sell them within a used/second hand section of the store.
Greenwashing using Circular Economy Principles
I think it's worth noting at this point - it's still possible for brands to use elements of the circular economy as a form of greenwashing.
IKEA cuts down a lot of trees and question marks have been raised about the sourcing of this timber (they were linked to cutting down valuable forests in Romania) - and they're often accused of being a bit too eager to position themselves as being green/sustainable in their marketing material.
Setting up a used-section within their stores is a great step - but perhaps they're just seeing an additional way to make extra money whilst also giving them something positive to shout about to appeal to environmentalists.
Perhaps a clearer example is that of fast fashion megabrand H&M - who encourage people to return clothes (which they claim get recycled into new clothes) in return for gift vouchers. That's nice on paper and will give them something to focus on as opposed to the issues with child labour and the well-documented environmental damage from the production of their clothes - but often these returned clothes end up being destroyed (and the vouchers serve to encourage the purchase of yet more clothes!)
Risks of greenwashing aside, in this piece I wanted to take a look at examples of websites using Shopify that fall within the circular economy space, and which seem to be doing a lot of things right when it comes to sustainability.
A note on Rental functionality within Shopify
Any product that can be rented is a great example of the circular economy in use.
When an item can be rented it ends up being reused many times by multiple users.
This removes the need for people to purchase it outright - which uses up valuable resources (and money).
Far better to design an item that can be reused, and repaired, vs selling it outright.
And in terms of rental functionality within Shopify, there are a few ready-to-use apps that will allow you to make use of product rentals - one of those is Product Rentals Pro and then there’s SuperCycle.
By default Shopify doesn’t seem to be setup to support product rentals, but with either of the above apps (or some custom configuration) you should be able to allow rentals from your online store.
5 Green Circular Economy Stores on Shopify
Below are 5 great examples of sustainable circular economy stores making use of Shopify at time of writing. Note that I've made my best attempts to check for greenwashing and to verify any sustainability claims - but you should also carry out your own assessment!
1 - Bebello and their 4-in-1 Baby Bottle Washer, Steriliser and Dryer
Bebello’s 4-in-1 baby bottle washer, steriliser and dryer is a bit of a god-send for busy parents of newborns who are bottle feeding but struggle to find the time needed to prepare their baby bottles safely.
As you can imagine, as parents of a newborn, life is hard enough without also having to figure out how to properly sterilise baby bottles and breast pump parts. So this all-in-one product saves them a lot of time and stress.
The product itself actually boasts that it saves a lot more water and energy than the other leading products on the market - and on top of this you can choose to rent out one of their units vs buying one outright (and they’re not the cheapest - at over £200).
With the rental option here you can pay a lower fee on a monthly basis and at the end of use (after 1-2 years potentially) it can be returned where Bebello will clean it out and be able to continue renting it out.
On top of this they also have a buy-back option for those who do buy the product outright. As this isn’t the kind of product you will always need (well, as long as you have newborns and are bottle-feeding) from a sustainability point of view it makes perfect sense to be able to sell it back to the company to recoup some money.
You can visit the Bebello website here.
2 - KEH Camera Rental Store
Cameras are notoriously expensive - if you want a good one, that is.
And it’s another of those typical electronic appliances that might not end up being used that much, unless you really get into photography.
Maybe you run an ecommerce store and you just want access to a camera to take some photos of your latest stock? Or you need a decent camera for a wedding you’ll be attending. Instead of forking out thousands on a device you might end up just using a few times per year (if that), just rent one for a few hundred pounds.
Camera lenses are a common pain point here too amongst hobby photographers - they can be super expensive and if you want a range of good lenses you could be looking at spending thousands. Why not rent a lens instead, as and when needed?
This is where the Keh Camera brand come into play. They have a website for their standalone camera brand but they have a subdomain (making use of Shopify) where they encourage people to rent their cameras.
When it comes to rental and the circular economy it’s important to clearly explain and describe the process - how does delivery work, how do I return the items, can I pick them up instore, etc. KEH do a great job explaining all this within an FAQ page on their website.
Visit the KEH Camera Rental website
3 - For The Creators - Maternal Clothing Rental
The fast fashion industry is notoriously bad for being one of the least eco-friendly options out there, and that’s without referring to the huge negative social impacts too, in terms of child and slave labour (see reports on the forced labour of Uyghurs in China producing textiles for famous fashion brands just for one example).
When you combine the idea of fashion and maternity - this could be a recipe for disaster - with many people forking out money to buy good quality clothing that is only going to be in use for a limited period of time.
This is where For The Creators comes into play - through their Shopify-powered website they enable mothers around the world to rent the clothing they need, for however long it is needed.
You can choose to rent items on a per-use, occasional basis (paying from £15 per item) or you can join the monthly rental program from £30 which allows you access to multiple items over a longer period of time.
This is a brilliant example of what would have been a scenario where clothing would only have a limited use period before either being relegated to the back of the wardrobe, thrown out, donated to a charity shop or sold on the second hand market.
Granted those 2 latter options are great from a sustainability perspective but For The Creators really aims to encourage and promote the idea that maternity clothes should get re-used from the offset - vs relying on hoping people will make that decision consciously.
Visit the ForTheCreators website.
4 - Rent Ski Gear, delivered to your hotel in Switzerland using CirkelSupply
Ski gear is another prime example of how a one-time purchase of clothing and equipment can feel like a massive waste - or a big ecommerce opportunity.
I can say this confidently first hand, as I’m always complaining about my partner’s skis that take up a lot of space in our garage (I’m always moaning - we don’t live near Switzerland anymore, so why do you even need these?!). Why fork out for ski gear if you’re only likely to use it for a limited period of time - like when on holiday?
What’s great about CirkelSupply is that you can get the premium ski gear you need delivered right to where you’ll end up going.
They’ve made the (probably correct) assumption that most people looking to rent gear like this are doing so whilst they’re on holiday, so an emphasis on this helps with a common pain point of customers having to lug the big, heavy gear along with them from home.
Again, CirkelSupply have a big emphasis on explaining how this rental process works, which is understandable as people likely have a range of questions here.
Another great feature of theirs is that the gear, once your holiday finishes, can be left at the hotel where it was delivered, where it will be sent back to CirkelSupply before being washed ready for it’s next outing.
In a sector where sustainability isn’t often given much thought (thinking of all the flights people take to the alps every year for skiing trips!) - it’s kind of ironic that climate change here isn’t taking more seriously, as the alps are losing snow at a fairly rapid pace.
So - it’s great to see the example that CirkelSupply are setting with their rental option using their Shopify-powered store.
Visit the CirkelSupply website.
5 - Hire a Designer Dress using Dress for a Night
Here’s another great example of a brand trying to tackle the fast fashion issue - albeit at the high-end-luxury scale over in Australia.
Dress for a Night is an example of a brand that’s gone all-in on the circular economy model, although perhaps this was more of a happy accident than anything and perhaps wasn’t done with sustainability at it’s heart.
Many people would already rent dresses for one-off occasions as they’re often very expensive and get limited chances of being worn - so perhaps the market has already existed here for a while.
Dress for a Night have 5 store locations throughout Australia, allowing people to come and try the dresses on, which is quite an important feature for what is often used on quite special occasions.
Aside from that you can get the dresses delivered by mail, as well as returning them later after use.
A nice simple example of the circular economy in use without it necessarily being thought of as being the sustainable, good-for-the-planet option.
You can visit the Dress for a Night website here.
Many Brands are using Shopify to Power their Online Circular-Economy Business - Do You Know of Any Other Good Examples?
Hopefully from reading the above and visiting some of those websites referenced you will be feeling inspired to setup Shopify to power your own circular-economy based business.
Maybe you know of some other good examples out there, in industries I’ve not yet featured above? Feel free to reach out and if I think it’s a good shout I’ll try and include them in this piece.
Note that you don’t have to use Shopify here either - there will be plenty of circular economy and regenerative businesses operating out there on the web that use a different platform - from WordPress and WooCommerce to BigCommerce or Squarespace, there’s a huge range that will allow rental functionality.
Reach out if you would like help getting your circular economy business ready for online trading - particularly if you need help ensuring your website can be more easily found (through my SEO services)!
