New Amazon Programme Provides Up to Five Small Businesses With $20,000
The new programme promotes small enterprises that produce innovative, high-quality, and environmentally conscious products. Beneficiaries are awarded $20,000, access to Amazon Launchpad, mentoring, and sales prospects.
This summer, Amazon launched its first-ever Products for Tomorrow programme, which seeks new, environmentally conscious products. To qualify, products must be new in design, materiality, or chemistry, making them highly effective and attractive, and they must be produced by a U.S.-based small business.
Selected firms will gain access to the Amazon Launchpad programme, a $20,000 award, mentoring and assistance with sustainable certifications, and the opportunity to place their winning items in multiple Amazon stores.
Amazon is committed to providing customers with a more sustainable purchasing experience. Currently, the company offers more than 300,000 items with sustainability certifications in its Climate Pledge Friendly programme in the United States, and it has just debuted Amazon Aware, the first-ever private brand that was built consciously, with each product carrying a sustainability certification.
In a recent survey by Amazon, thirty per cent of respondents stated that they were purchasing more sustainable products. Amazon's Climate Pledge Friendly programme was created in 2020 to assist shoppers in discovering more sustainable products by utilising third-party certifications in addition to its, Compact by Design.
Since June 2021, the Climate Pledge Friendly selection on Amazon in the United States has more than doubled, and the number of Climate Pledge Friendly items purchased by customers has quadrupled.
Cyrus Wadia, director of Product Sustainability at Amazon, said:
"We know customers want more sustainable products, and we’ve set out to deliver this through large programmes like Climate Pledge Friendly and Amazon Aware. As we grow these programmes, we are constantly looking for ways to support our smaller selling partners and brands. Products for Tomorrow allows us to reward innovative products with sustainability attributes from smaller brands, and provide them with additional support to connect to our larger retail shopping programmes."
The Amazon Launchpad programme will accept selected recipients. The programme, which was founded in 2015, assists new brands, entrepreneurs, and startups in overcoming many of the hurdles associated with introducing new products.
The programme offers marketing tools as well as a package of services and benefits to assist firms in increasing product visibility so that they may focus on new developments and expansion.
Nick Love, head of the Amazon Launchpad programme at Amazon, said:
"The Amazon Launchpad programme is solely focused on helping innovative brands and products succeed—innovation is thriving and essential in the sustainability space. We’re looking forward to combining the expertise of the Product Sustainability team at Amazon with that of the Amazon Launchpad team to help these products reach customers.”
Small businesses selected for the Products for Tomorrow programme will receive a carbon-neutral certification assessment and cash for one year.
The businesses will also be assisted in acquiring any further certifications that they may be eligible for under the Climate Pledge Friendly programme.
Applications are free and will be available from July 18 through August 18. Amazon and a globally renowned design firm will select the finalists and winners based on the product's performance and value, originality and novelty, desirability, and sustainability. Winners will be contacted by the end of September, and their names will be made public in the fall.
Source: Amazon
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