Turning shoppers into philanthropists, LavishGiving.com is an online gift retailer that donates 20% of all purchases of USD 100 or more to a charity of the buyer's choice. Which allows them to be generous twice: once when giving the gifts they purchased, and a second time when donating 20% of their value to a favourite charity.

Seven days after shopping, customers are mailed a Good Card worth 20% of their purchase. The seven day grace period is in place should anyone wish to return a purchase. Customers can then visit Network for Good's website to donate the entire amount to one charity, or distribute it between several of the 1.5 million charities that are affiliated with Network for Good, from local schools and animal shelters to international aid programs and medical research organizations.

It's a beneficial move for all involved: the site differentiates itself from swathes of other online gift stores, charities receive extra donations and customers can choose exactly which causes benefit from their spending. For more on adding a dose of generosity to your entrepreneurial pursuits, check out our sister site trendwatching.com's briefing on Generation G.

Website: www.lavishgiving.com
Contact: jane@lavishgiving.com

Spotted by: Alexander Lattin

Summer music festivals, with their huge and more or less captive audiences, have proven to be fertile ground for business and marketing ideas, from sponsored showers to recyclable tents. The latest to join the flock? A retailer that offers just about everything a festival-goer might need or want.

Based in London's Spitalfields market, the Marsh Mellow Festival Boutique sells rubber boots, water bottles, hats, tents, sleeping bags and other stylish and useful camping and outdoor gear. All carefully curated to appeal to a young and design-savvy audience, and stocked under one roof to make for easy shopping. Targeting consumers nationwide, Marsh Mellow also sells many of its products through an online store, as well as tickets to most music festivals. One to set up as a (temporary) shop in other cities next summer? (Related: Event-driven travel site asks when, not where — Foot-pumped power for phones at Glastonbury.)

Website: www.marsh-mellow.co.uk
Contact: info@marsh-mellow.co.uk

Spotted by: Liam Power

Earlier this year we wrote about Sears' MyGofer experiment blending online shopping with curbside pickup, and recently one of our spotters alerted us to a like-minded effort that's already well underway across the ocean. At French hypermarket chain E.Leclerc, customers can order online and have their purchases loaded into their car two hours later at no extra charge.

Leclerc's initiative began in late 2007, when it opened its first Express Drive in Roques sur Garonne near Toulouse. With a selection of nearly 3,000 available products, customers then could place their orders online—or via touch terminals in the local Leclerc store or parking lot—and then go to a curbside pickup area to have it loaded into their trunk. Today, many more products are available through the service—including groceries, fresh produce and frozen goods—for curbside loading at more than 20 Leclerc stores. The prices of all products ordered via Express Drive are the same as those in-store; customers simply arrive at their local store two hours after they place and pay for their order online, and it will be loaded into their trunk free of charge. A standard shopping list can even be saved online to speed ordering on subsequent visits.

After years of separation of online and off, it's a sign of maturation that retail is beginning to blur those lines, blending the best of both worlds. The same is happening in consumers' own lives too, of course, so they increasingly expect it everywhere. Any company hoping to win their business had better deliver! ;-)

Website: www.expressdrive.fr
Contact: www.e-leclerc.com/c2k/portail/conso/plus_services/service_conso/plus_services_contact.asp

Spotted by: Florent Lesauvage

Cutting both costs and carbon emissions, British supermarket Waitrose shipped its new range of ‘Virtue’ wines from Chile in 24,000 liter flexitanks and bottled them in the UK. One tank equals 32,000 bottles—or 16 tons of glass—that no longer need to be shipped. In addition, the bottles used are lightweight and made of 60% recycled material.

Besides reducing carbon emissions, this shipping and distribution method lowers end-to-end production costs by up to 40%. Waitrose claims to be sharing these cost reductions with customers, charging GBP 3.99 per bottle. Currently on offer are a Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon/Chardonnay, both from Chile. They’ll be joined by two Californian wines later this season, and Waitrose is looking to further expand the method to other countries it imports wine from.

A green innovation that saves money for both retailers and consumers? Producers and retailers: it’s time to get virtuous ;-)

Website: www.waitrose.com
Contact: www.waitrose.com/footer/contactus.aspx

Spotted by: Maria Dahl Jorgensen

Laundry detergent, toilet paper and toothpaste are not items consumers typically buy online, as the grocery stores, Wal-Marts and big box outlets of the world can attest. A new e-commerce site aims to change all that, however, by providing free shipping, streamlined reordering and a platform that allows consumers and manufacturers to connect.

Just launched into beta this week, Alice offers more than 6,000 unique products from hundreds of different manufacturers. Its prices are 20 percent to 30 percent lower than those at other online stores, it says, and shipping is always free. US consumers begin by creating a free account and then selecting a list of all their favourite products, ordering only the items they need right then. Each shipment is bundled together in a single "Alice" box and delivered directly to the consumer’s door. Meanwhile, Alice organizes all the products on the member's list, finds coupons and deals for them, and reminds them to reorder when they are likely to be running low.

Although Wisconsin-based Alice works much like any other online retailer from the consumer's perspective, behind the scenes it is more like a marketplace, allowing manufacturers to sell directly to US consumers. Alice makes no retail margin, and instead allows each manufacturer to control product assortment and pricing in its own direct sale to the end consumer. Because no retail middleman is involved, significant cost savings can be passed on to shoppers, the company says. In addition, Alice's model allows brands to form a direct relationship with consumers, enabling personalized coupons, sampling and loyalty programs.

Alice is actively signing up manufacturers during its beta phase, with plans for a full consumer launch in the fall. Those in consumer packaged goods: better get on board now! For all others: One to help bring to consumers in the rest of the shop-weary world?

Website: www.alice.com
Contact: support@alice.com