Have you ever fallen in love with a pair of boots or a scarf, or a wallet only to find out that it’s not vegan? Have you ever wished that you could go somewhere to shop and not worry about checking EVERY SINGLE label, or look up EVERY SINGLE product to make sure it’s vegan, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, etc, etc, etc? Do you have a great vegan product idea and wish there was somewhere you could reach “the conscious consumer”? Well, that place is here – it’s new, and still relatively small, but it’s growing, and it’s growing fast!
Vegan Unite is a new online marketplace where you can browse worry-free. Every single product sold on this site is cruelty-free, vegan, environmentally friendly – and made and sold by a person who shares all of those values. It’s Etsy – vegan style! We had the chance to chat with creator Cosondra Sjostrom to find out more. Interested in browsing – or becoming a merchant? All the info is down below…
Vegan Mainstream: How did Vegan Unite get started? Where did the idea come from?
Cosondra Sjostrom: Vegan Unite is the logical evolution in marketplaces for the cruelty-free, vegan, and environmentally conscious consumer. Vegan Unite started because I wanted to make one place where everyone can go to find new, cool, innovative, handcrafted, and useful cruelty-free products. Then I thought, how great would it be if you could buy a cruelty-free product directly from a cruelty-free person from anywhere in the around the world?
I wanted to create a community of shoppers and merchants that can purchase with a clear conscience. A community that believes in ethical consumerism and eco-friendly products. A community that sells and buys to support each other. Every little change that we make in our daily habits makes a difference and supporting someone that is like-minded makes a greater impact.
I started researching and programming the website, then about 5 months and many gallons of green tea later. I launched Vegan Unite.
VM: What kind of products can people find on the site? How many vendors do you have?
CS: Vegan Unite is a marketplace for merchants to sell everything from books, arts & crafts, home decor, DIY Kits (do it yourself), cruelty-free makeup, soap, shoes, clothing, furniture to dog food. Vegan Unite already has over 100+ merchants and 250+ products and counting. We are actively seeking more merchants and shoppers every day. We feature interviews bi-weekly about new merchants to help them with marketing and promotions. We want to support our community as much as we can.
VM: How do you ensure that all the products are completely vegan and cruelty free?
CS: We have rules and regulations that all of our merchants must abide by when selling on Vegan Unite. We also do quality checks by reviewing what our merchants are selling. It is very important to us that our merchants are doing their part in providing for our community of shoppers.
VM: If someone wants to start their own shop, what do they need to know to get started?
CS: Becoming a merchant on Vegan Unite is very simple. All you need is an email address, an active PayPal account, and some awesome cruelty-free products to sell. We have a short and simple video that shows new merchants how to set up a shop step-by-step: www.veganunite.com/register.
I encourage anyone with questions to please email support@veganunite.com for assistance. We are very active in helping our merchants.
VM: Why do you think there is a need for a site like this?
CS: As I stated before I think this is just the logical evolution in shopping for the ethical consumer. Personally, I was tired of trolling the internet for cruelty-free and vegan products. We have been getting a lot of positive feedback from the community. I am so thankful for all of the support the site has been receiving:
“The cruelty-free and vegan community has been in need of something like this for a long time.”
“What a cool idea. I?d love to know that I?m shopping from all cruelty-free and like-minded individuals that share my ideals. What a great way to build the community.”
“I am so honored to be a merchant on Vegan Unite. Cheers to your great success. Goodbye Etsy (sorry that you did not think compassion was more important than sales) and hello Vegan Unite (the best Vegan market place in the world). Yay!”
“I can?t tell you how excited I am about being a seller on Vegan Unite. We have so many ideas for vegan items and this is perfect for us. We also ran an animal rescue for over 4 years. That is how I came to be a vegan. I made the connection to all living beings. I couldn?t work hard trying to save dogs and cats while sitting down to eat a cow, chicken or pig. Becoming a vegan is the best thing I have ever done.”
VM: How are customers finding out about this site?
CS: We have been focused on social media and a steady growth pattern. We haven’t even started our big market push yet. We have just been focused on developing a good relationships and building up our merchants. We do outreach of twitter, facebook, and instagram. A lot of our customers are finding us via these social media outlets. We are planning a lot more marketing, fun events, and surprises in the future. We are also developing a lot of our tech for the marketing place and will have a brand new look in about 2 months.
VM: How many people visit the site in a week; what are the sales like?
CS: We are just starting our consumer outreach and our sales have an impressive and steady growth pattern. The site is already getting over 2000 hits a day and we just started. We are so happy about the support we are getting.
VM: How often are new products posted?
CS: We get on average about 2 new products a day right now. We are hoping to see this increase as our marketing efforts increase. We are also working to start featuring new products of the day on the main page. I encourage everyone to bookmark us now as we are growing fast!
Want more info? Find Vegan Unite here:
www.veganunite.com
twitter.com/veganunite
facebook.com/veganunite
instagram.com/veganunite
veganunite.tumblr.com/