Earlier in the year I met up with a local lovely company. Hailing from the Team Valley Trading Estate in nearby Gateshead, EthicalSuperstore.com sells thousands of different groceries, gifts and gadgets from their easy-to-use website. I had a chat with founder and CEO Andy Redfern and he showed me round their offices and warehouse.

For a product to be stocked it must have established ethical credentials in at least one of the following areas: fair trade, organic, eco friendly, health and wellness promotion, education and awareness building. You can ‘shop by ethics‘ which supports their commitment to help ethical consumers ‘buy what you believe’.

Andy stressed the emphasis placed on customer service within the company. They have a generous 60 day refund or replace policy and occasionally give customers suprise shipping upgrades (a lovely trick borrowed from Zappos). They have a free customer service helpline shown on every page and a blog which they use to discuss issues and events in the wider community. Recent posts have included “Our Green Motoring Dilemma” and “Can Fizzy Drinks Ever Be Ethical?” and, of course, they maintain an active presence on Twitter.

With their warehouse space and expertise in e-commerce, the company also offers e-commerce and fulfillment services to other ethical businesses and charities. For example they run Cancer Research UK’s online gift shop and earlier this year they merged with Natural Collection – an established UK mail order company. More information on their business services can be found here.

So, for all your ethical shopping needs, check out EthicalSuperstore.com!

See also: The Paradox of Choice.

Ben discusses how they use a “golden supply chain” in which each link is as ethical as possible right from “grape to groin, from cotton to bottom”!

“Pants really are the thing that can begin to raise your underwareness of the issues around the world!”

Now go and buy some pants!

innocent’s sustainability manager, Jess Samson, has been chosen by Ethical Corporation as one of the “individuals who have done the most to advance the cause of responsible business over the year”. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a huge achievement, especially as her fellow nominees include such characters as Bill Gates and Barack Obama!

Congratulations Jess! Keep up the excellent work!