ETHICAL SHOPPING MADE SIMPLE WITH NEW MOBILE APP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 4, 2011 -- Ethical shopping is easier than ever now that The Ethical Company Organisation’s best selling The Good Shopping Guide is available as a mobile phone app . And in today’s financial tough times, consumers will be pleased to know that switching to a more ethical product choice often comes with no price premium.

Publically launched today (Fri 4th February 2011), the latest ethical shopping advice is just a button push away on your iPhone, iTouch and iPad – and at only £2.99 its kind on your pocket as well as the planet. 10% of net revenue will go to green campaigning charity Friends of the Earth. The app is available to download from iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-good-shopping-guide-ethical/id416083134?mt=8).

The Good Shopping Guide Ethical Shopping App is the first ethical shopping app on the UK market to give the user the ability to make clear comparisons with other brands within each product sector. Choosing, for example, the most ethical cup of tea or bottled water has never been easier.

• Over 700 famous brands are ranked in 72 product-specific league tables under the 7 main sections of Food & Drink, Health & Beauty, Travel, Energy, Fashion, Home & Office and Money

• Easy-view summary table shows ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ brands in relation to the environment, human rights and animal welfare within each product category
• Detailed research tables for 72 product-specific categories across 15 different ethical criteria
• Ethical Company Index scores give an overall ‘ethical rating’ to easily identify the best performing brands/companies
• In-depth editorial support, giving information on the ethical issues involved in each product

William Sankey, Director of The Ethical Company Organisation said:

''Ethical shopping has never been so easy, in store or online. Our readers asked us to develop a comprehensive comparison tool they could take into the shops and our mobile app does just that.

''We could only have dreamed of such a neat mobile tool when we printed the first (painfully heavy) 350 page The Good Shopping Guide reference book a decade or so ago. Companies' ethical records have never been so easy to access for millions of concerned consumers.''

Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director, said:
“Despite the recession more and more people want products and services that don’t trash the planet - but don’t have much time to investigate the best options.

“The new app provides quick and reliable advice when you’re out and about – and helps raise vital funds for Friends of the Earth work to ensure a thriving environment for everyone.”

The Good Shopping Guide Ethical Shopping App is underpinned by ten years of detailed research by The Ethical Company Organisation into the ethical records of hundred’s of the UK’s biggest brands, covering up to 15 different Corporate Social Responsible criteria.

Although there is growing awareness of the benefits of fair trade and organic, there is less information available to give the consumer an overall ethical footprint of the product and the company behind the brand.

So, if you want to find out the most ethical cup of tea, simply click on the ‘Good Food & Drink’ category on the home screen, scroll through the product listings to ‘Tea and Coffee’, where you can access introductory editorial to the tea and coffee trade or click directly on the ‘summary’ or ‘compare’ tabs to access information on the most and least progressive brands.

Tetley Tea, one of our most popular and trusted brands is exposed in this section, scoring an Ethical Company Index (ECI) rating of just 57 out of a possible 100 due to Tetley’s holding company’s lack of environmental reporting, links to armaments, and disregard animal welfare, compared with Cafédirect Tea (ECI=100), Yorkshire Tea (ECI=96) and Typhoo (ECI=91).
The app was produced for The Ethical Company Organisation by App Creatives.

Russell Berry founder of AppCreatives.co.uk said:

“Portability is completely changing the way consumers are purchasing products and engaging with brands. Brands that aren't thinking seriously about their mobility strategy are going to be lagging behind their competitors. The Good Shopping Ethical Shopping App was quick and easy for us to build and incorporates the latest technology available for all iPhone users."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:
1. A media briefing is available from www.ethical-company-organisation.org/mediacentre.htm. It includes illustrative examples of the research using well known ‘good’ and ‘ugly’ rated brands and shows how the app can help consumers and businesses improve the ethical footprint of their lives, homes and offices.

2. A demonstration video on the app is available from www.ethical-company-organisation.org/mediacentre.htm and Friends of the Earth’s website www.foe.co.uk where web visitors have the chance to enter a competition to win an iPod Touch.
3. Journalists can receive a free copy of The Good Shopping Guide Ethical Shopping App by emailing k.alexander@ethical-company-organisation.org with the following details:
• name
• company
• email address
4. Screen images of the app are available from www.ethical-company-organisation.org/mediacentre.htm

5. The app was produced for The Ethical Company Organisation by App Creatives. AppCreatives.co.uk is a fast growing UK SME that offers mobile/PDA application solutions that help organisations communicate with their customers through custom mobile devices. Leveraging industry intelligence and technological background, our developers design and build mobile applications that are customer-friendly and facilitate easy and quick data processing. For more information please see http://www.appcreatives.co.uk

More information can be found online at http://www.ethical-company-organisation.org/ethicalshoppingapp.htm

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