Independent online shops, fair marketplaces, local shops and buying directly from makers.
Many independent shops also sell online, often at the same price as the big platforms, and a local shop can give advice or take back a faulty item over the counter.
A cooperative supermarket belongs to its customers: each member buys shares, works a few hours a month in the shop and buys food there at lower margins than in ordinary supermarkets. Only members can…
Alternative to supermarket chains that set prices and margins for their shareholders
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Label Emmaüs is the online shop of the Emmaüs movement and other organisations of the social and solidarity economy. About 180 solidarity shops sell second-hand books, clothes, furniture, household…
Alternative to Amazon and the big online marketplaces selling new products shipped from far away
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Open Food Facts is a free, collaborative database of food products run by a French non-profit association: volunteers scan barcodes and photograph packaging, and the app and website then show the…
Alternative to the marketing on food packaging, and commercial food-scanning apps
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Place des Libraires is a French website that shows which bookshops have a book in stock: readers choose a title and a nearby shop, then reserve the book to collect there, or order it if it isn’t in…
Alternative to ordering books from Amazon and the big online retailers
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The Unverpackt Verband (Unverpackt e.V.) is the association of German zero-packaging shops, where customers fill their own jars, bags and bottles with dry goods, oils, cleaning products and cosmetics…
Alternative to supermarket groceries wrapped in plastic
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VRAC organises group buying of organic, fair-trade and local food in low-income neighbourhoods of France and sells it at cost price. Members order and collect their goods, in their own containers, at…
Alternative to discount supermarkets as the only option in low-income neighbourhoods
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Artisans du Monde is a French network of fair trade shops run mostly by volunteers, selling crafts, food and cosmetics bought from more than 120 producer organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin…
Alternative to gift shops and chain stores selling crafts and food from unknown suppliers
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The EU Ecolabel is the European Union’s official environmental label, with a flower logo, for products and services that meet published criteria; for cleaning products it limits hazardous substances…
Alternative to cleaning products with green claims that nobody checks
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Kaffee-Kooperative is a Berlin company that sells Fairtrade coffee from Rwanda roasted and packed in Kigali, by a roastery owned by Rwandan coffee cooperatives, so that more of the price stays in the…
Alternative to coffee roasted in Europe, where most of the value of the beans stays
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memo is a German mail-order company that sells more than 20,000 products for the office, home and everyday life chosen for their sustainability, and ships them in a reusable box at no extra charge…
Alternative to Lyreco, Amazon and other big office-supply sellers
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Weltläden are Germany’s fair trade shops, about 900 local shops mostly run by volunteers, which sell coffee, chocolate, crafts, clothing and gifts from suppliers checked against fair trade criteria.
Alternative to department stores and online giants for gifts, coffee and chocolate
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Bienvenue à la ferme is the network of French farmers who sell their produce directly or welcome visitors, and its free website maps them: farm shops, farmers’ markets, producers’ shops, “drives…
Alternative to supermarket fruit, vegetables and meat that pass through several middlemen
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Karte von morgen (“map of tomorrow”) is an open map of sustainable initiatives and businesses: organic shops, repair cafés, community gardens, cooperatives, sharing places, places to eat and more, in…
Alternative to commercial map apps that list whoever pays for advertising first
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Social grocery shops (épiceries solidaires) sell food, fresh produce and hygiene products to households on low incomes at 10 to 30 % of the usual price. Customers choose on the shelves and pay at the…
Alternative to food parcels, for households on a small income who want to choose their own shopping
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Que Choisir Ensemble, called UFC-Que Choisir until its renaming in 2025–2026, is the largest French consumer association: it tests more than 2,000 products a year, publishes the results in its…
Alternative to advertising, sponsored reviews and comparison sites paid by the brands they compare
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The Nutri-Score is a front-of-pack label from A (dark green) to E (red) that sums up a food's nutritional quality per 100 g or 100 ml, so that two breakfast cereals or two pizzas can be compared at a…
Alternative to nutrition tables in small print and to health claims on packaging
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Cafédirect is a British Fairtrade coffee company founded in 1991 by Oxfam, Traidcraft, Equal Exchange and Twin Trading, with two coffee producers on its board and a certified B Corp since 2018.
Alternative to Nescafé, Kenco and other coffee from multinational groups
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Camif is a French online furniture and home shop that sells only products made in Europe, 70 % of them in France according to its own figures, and shows on each product page where it was made.
Alternative to IKEA and furniture chains that sell flat-pack furniture made far away
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dieUmweltDruckerei is a German online print shop that prints flyers, business cards, brochures, posters, calendars and labels on 100 % recycled paper, much of it with the Blauer Engel label, using…
Alternative to online print shops printing on virgin-fibre paper
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NATRUE and Cosmébio are two labels for natural and organic cosmetics, NATRUE common in Germany and across Europe, Cosmébio in France, whose criteria are published and whose products are checked by…
Alternative to “natural” and “green” claims on cosmetics that no one checks
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Speick is a family-owned natural cosmetics maker near Stuttgart, best known for its soaps and shaving products, whose whole range contains an extract of the Speick plant hand-picked in the Austrian…
Alternative to conventional soap, shaving cream and deodorant from Nivea, Gillette and other big brands
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Yuka is a free French app that scans the barcode of a food or cosmetic product and gives it a score out of 100, with healthier products suggested in its place. It takes no advertising and no money…
Alternative to trusting the marketing on food and cosmetics packaging
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Ethical Superstore is a British online shop that sells only products with at least one ethical credential, such as fair trade, organic or eco-friendly, from food and cleaning products to clothes…
Alternative to Amazon for gifts, food and household goods
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Jean Bouteille is a French system of reusable deposit glass bottles for liquids sold loose in shops, such as oil, vinegar, wine, beer and detergents: customers fill the bottle from a dispenser and…
Alternative to single-use bottles of oil, vinegar, wine and detergent
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Buying without feeding the giants
Food and community farming
Work and cooperative economy
Second-hand, swapping, lending and sharing
Nutrition advice and recipes
Culture: books, music, films and streaming
Waste, recycling and zero waste
Household and personal care
Neighbourhood, community spaces and local networks
Celebrations, gifts and holidays
Drinks: coffee, tea, wine and beer
Office, paper and printing
Donations, volunteering and non-profits
Law, consumer protection and advice
Furniture and furnishing
Cosmetics and hygiene
