Words by Smiley Team
Get inspired by crowdfunding projects that give back. Learn how entrepreneurs are solving the world's problems by supplying the goods and services we need.
It’s 2021, and the majority of us are looking for ways to shop more sustainably.
Well, the Beagle Button is a browser extension that makes this a whole lot easier. It’s a crowdfunding project from Daniel Hemsley, 32, based in London, where people can download a free browser extension and then continue to shop as normal.
If there is a better (more sustainable, ethical, or plastic-free) product to the one they are looking at, Beagle “sniffs it out” and pops up a recommendation in real-time.
In 2019, Daniel met co-founder Tara Button at Imperial College’s Plastic Hackathon. “We both ran sustainable e-commerce businesses (Tara is the founder of BuyMeOnce and I set up a zero-waste subscription service called Unwrpd),” he says.
[Find more inspirational stories about people giving back to the planet here]
“We realised we were both trying to solve the same problem: the gap between people wanting to shop sustainably and then taking that action. We loved what Honey (the browser extension) was doing with discount codes at checkouts and thought that idea could be applied the problem we identified if we came in earlier in the browsing journey and made it much easier for people to see sustainable alternatives when it matters the most: when they shop.”
The vast majority of people – around 73% – say they want to buy sustainably, but the percentage who actually do is much lower. “Beagle’s mission is to close this aspiration – action gap,” says Daniel.
“When we did our research into why people with good intentions don’t follow through, we identified the top two pain points: 48% don’t know how to easily find better products and 38% find it difficult to change their habits.
“The Beagle Button has been designed to solve both these pain points for consumers. We do all the research so that consumers don’t have to, popping up on their desktop screen in real-time with a planet-friendly version of the very same product.”
Over the next five years, The Beagle Button aims to redirect millions of pounds away from potentially harmful purchases, towards the products and brands that have made the biggest strides towards mitigating their negative impacts.
[Get your daily dose of positive news on Smiley Movement]
“Our preferences allow users to personalise the recommendations they see, making it easier to shop according to your values and vote with your wallet. Also, for every product purchased through the Beagle Button and for every successful referral our users make, we plant a tree.”
Daniel adds: “We believe changing consumer behaviour at scale is a crucial element to solving the climate crisis – this is a key driver for why we created the Beagle Button.”
Support the crowdfunding initiative here.
Get inspired by crowdfunding projects that give back. Learn how entrepreneurs are solving the world's problems by supplying the goods and services we need.
