HOW TO SOURCE ETHICAL LIFESTYLE & NATURAL PRODUCTS FROM AFRICAN WHOLESALERS

At Meekono, the wholesaling marketplace for premium African lifestyle products, we serve discerning buyers sourcing from Africa, whether they’re retailers or decorators diversifying their offering, corporate gift buyers supporting minority artisans, spa or hospitality companies procuring natural healing skincare products. We’re enabling buyers to experience a cost-effective, seamless and delightful sourcing process of the ethical, unique and culture-rich lifestyle products that the world loves. 

What Meekono Marketplace Offers Buyers:

• Varying minimum order quantities and terms set by each seller 
• A fast way to source diverse and unique stock throughout the year
• Easy ordering process — no legal paperwork other than the platform’s Terms of Use
• Ability to locate unique items not available anywhere else

Using a platform like Meekono is a great way to discover many small and large producers, budding entrepreneurs, and emerging brands to partner with, all in one place. Sellers and makers can turn into long-lasting allies for your brand and help scale multi-brand operations. Behind the scenes, we’re equipping these sellers with tools for success in wholesaling. But we don’t stop there. 

We recognize that buyers want more than just a wide choice of quality products and a secure, streamlined e-commerce process. Some have never sourced from Africa before and have questions about engaging trading partners online, especially ones they’ve never dealt with. This piece is the first in a series to support buyers navigate Meekono, find the perfect products to match their goals, and engage with sellers to build long-lasting relationships.

10 Questions to Ask Before You Begin Wholesaling. 

Are you a maker of premium handcrafted products and considering expanding your business by starting to wholesale? Wholesaling can be a profitable way to grow your revenue and better utilise your production capacity, but it requires careful planning and consideration to ensure a smooth and successful transition. We'll explore 10 key questions to ask yourself before embarking on your wholesale journey to make sure you're well-prepared for the demands of the wholesale market. 

Sustainability and ethics have become regular buzzwords within the global fashion and lifestyle manufacture space, gaining prominence several years ago because of horrific events in apparel factories that were a direct result of unethical practice to satisfy the demands of retailers in the 'fast fashion' industry. More recently, calls for increased sustainability have been driven up in volume by pressue to reduce the impact of climate change. 

Over the years, we’ve seen initiatives of all forms -sincere and otherwise- by players in the sector to show that they’re engaging in more ethical sourcing including fair wage practice, use of organic fabrics, responsible product packaging, energy efficiency, alternative fuels and optimisation of logistics. 

Does the Consumer Really Care?

We have to ask, while more companies are practising ethical sourcing, does the end customer really care? If so, how are they living their values when shopping? This is an important question for Meekono because of the role we play to identify and highlight emerging trends for our community of artisans, producers, value-adders and wholesalers so they may in turn intensify existing good practice or adopt and innovate new ways of working to not only address the demands of the consumers but also to contribute to a better world.

At the start of 2022, retailers were cautiously optimistic about their ability to move past Covid-19 and all of its challenges. There was a sense that technology, innovation and new business models would allow the industry to capitalise on emerging consumer behaviour and take a big step forward to shape the future shopping experience.

Out of the Covid Crisis into the Ukraine War Crisis 

However, market conditions have been made more challenging driven by the fuel crisis, scarcity of raw materials, rapid inflation, which is putting a dent on the ability of the consumer to spend, and the war in Ukraine impacting supply chains.

Despite the challenges, product and business model innovation continues. Also, there is a revival of traditional ways of doing things: customers are preferring to shop from familiar local retailers, buying quality over quantity and less often, repurposing, reusing and recycling.

Deloitte's Latest Survey of 2,000 Consumers

The third study of its kind by Deloitte of more than 2,000 UK adults aged 18+ shows that consumers are increasingly making conscious decisions with sustainability and the environment in mind. We dove into the results of the survey to find the elements that should be taken into account by players in the African creative manufacturing space, and those who retail their products.

Deloitte found that more consumers are being more proactive in their pursuit of adopting a more sustainable lifestyle, whether by choosing brands that have ethical or environmentally sustainable practices and values, or by no longer purchasing certain products because they have concerns around the brand's ethical or sustainability practices or values. 

Encouraging Consumers Trends

Consumers have also become more socially conscious when purchasing clothing and footwear, choosing brands based on their sustainability and ethical practices

Increasing consumer interest in sustainability is also being reflected in purchases of beauty products, with consumers more likely to choose brands that have environmentally sustainable and more ethical practices and values.

What do Consumers Consider a Sustainable Product?

When asked what makes a product sustainable, the majority of consumers indicated that it was biodegradable or made from recycled materials, followed by being responsibly sourced, had minimal packaging, was carbon-neutral and, supported biodiversity. However, when considering a purchase, consumers are more likely to value durability and repairability over recyclability or biodegradability.

Consumers are paying attention to ethical working practices and human rights issues when they shop for clothes and footwear. And looking across all categories, consumers value conserving biodiversity, water and other natural resources, as well as adopting circular practices, including the reuse, recycling, refurbishment or repair of goods.

What are the Main Barriers to Consumers Adopting a More Sustainable Lifestyle?

The primary reasons for not adopting a more sustainable lifestyle are related to cost, lack of interest in the issue of sustainability and not having enough information.

 What do Consumers Need to Adopt a More Sustainable Lifestyle?

Given that the primary barrier to becoming more sustainable relates to cost, it’s not surprising that making it more affordable to choose sustainable alternatives leads every other consideration, with nearly one in two citing it as the main area to address. Next, consumers would welcome better schemes to remove plastic and packaging and more clarity on disposal and recycling.

While consumers are looking to businesses like ours to make products more sustainable, the majority would also be willing to take more responsibility if they had the right information. Consumers want greater clarity on how to dispose or recycle an item, how sustainable products or services are, and better signposting of ways to renew or repair a damaged item. 

It's up to us to work in partnership with our retail buyers - those who have direct contact with consumers - to create and develop sustainable products that stay true to their design heritage, and to be transparent about the creation process. Fortunately, African design culture is very firmly rooted in respect of the environment and use of materials that are available in abundance.

This weekend, the much anticipated Marvel sequel to the cultural sensation, 'Black Panther' will be on our screens. In the four years since the first blockbuster, a lot has changed. We lost Chadwick Boseman, who played the titular role, and we're still getting over the global epidemic. In a recent interview, Lupita Nyong’o expressed that “audiences can expect a tribute to the late Chadwick and believe that in the world, we are all dealing with the COVID pandemic, have suffered a great deal of loss, and are extremely aware of our fragility." 

Those who have been lucky enough to watch the previews confirm that the movie processes those feelings of grief and frailty in a sympathetic and respectful way whilst inspiring viewers to feel hope and courage to face the future. It couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. 

Donning our African design focused lens, we just love the Black Panther franchise for the meticulous attention to detail given to the set and costume design - which draws from many different aspects of African culture. No opportunity is wasted. So if you're getting ready to go catch Wakanda Forever, arm yourself with a spoiler-free guide to what to look out for as you enjoy the action!