New Shopping Mall!

The shopping mall has finally opened.  Please visit and have a look around the shops that are there.  Use the "shopping" link in the top right hand corner.

While shops are getting established, Living With Awareness will continue to sell a range of products through a few different "stores" (or departments) in the mall.  As stores open that stock similar goods the withawareness stores will close down.

And now, a bit about the mall and the reasons for the changes ...

Its been frustrating to me that I can't bring you as big a range of products as I'd like to.  My aim with Living With Awareness is that you can read about issues, and then, where relevant, find it easy to get products that meet the ethical criteria discussed.  There is nothing more frustrating then reading about something like Fairtrade or Sweatshops, and then not being able to do anything about it - knowing the brands your using are not Fairtrade, or likely to be made in Sweatshop conditions, but not being able to find an alternative.  And I keep finding great products that I really think should be more readily available, but I just can't stock them all!!!

So ... thanks to suggestions from a friend, here finally is a solution!  The shop will change to a mall.  An online mall is a bit like a real life mall.  Browsing the mall you will find lots of smaller shops.  These will generally specialise.

All shops in this mall will be screened for their ethics, so you can feel confident to purchase from them.  There will also be an information page about each shop that will give further details about their ethics - allowing you to use your own priorities to decide who to purchase from.

I am really looking forward to this change and being able to make it easier for you to source a greater range products that meet the ethical standards of this site.  And also hope it will allow me to provide you with more information about issues to be aware of in this section of the site.

Who might be interested in having a store in this mall?

There are three main groups of people who may be interested in having a store in the mall.

1  Businesses with existing online stores

For a business with an existing online store, even quite a big one, there can be some great advantages to having a smaller store in the mall.  You may like to just have one special range, limited editions, specials, or a bit of everything in the mall store.  It can be good advertising as a different set of people will visit your mall store and then may be interested to see what other products you stock in your main store - you're welcome to provide a link to your main store.  Also, part of the store fees will go towards advertising the mall; by combining the advertising dollars of all stores in the mall, it may be possible to advertise in places that would previously have been out of your reach.

2  Bricks and mortar stores that don't have an online store

Many Bricks and Mortar stores would like an online store, but don't have either the time or knowledge to set one up.  With a mall store all the set up has been done for you and you just have to enter in your specific details.  As with businesses that already have an existing store, you can choose to just have a few really relevant products or special offers if you would like to keep it simple.  It will allow you to reach an entirely new customer base and will be good promotion.

3  Small businesses who only want a small store

If you have a very small business, or would like to have a very small business, a mall store will be perfect for you.  In setting up an online business, much time is used in setting up the website, and then you have to get people to visit your site.  With a store in the mall, the set up is done for you, along with some advertising as well as visitors who come to visit other stores.  And it is worthwhile whether you want to have a large range of products or only a few.  If your dream is to have a small online business but you are unable to source a supplier of good products, please email me.

I am really hoping that by offering an easy way for people to set up an online store, new businesses will be encouraged to start, perhaps even just importing products from one Fairtrade community overseas, or making one type of product.  This should help to support these businesses as well as give us all easy access to a much bigger range of products.  I do have details of many good suppliers and would love to put individuals in touch with these suppliers in order to have them available.

If you think you might be interested in having a store in this mall, and your business and products fit the ethics of:

• Environmentally Sustainable
• Fairtrade/Sweatshop Free
• Cruelty Free

Please let me know.  Your products don't have to be certified be the relevant authority in these areas (eg certified fairtrade) and your business may focus more on one of these areas, but you do need to be able to explain how it doesn't contravene any of these ethics.  If you're unsure, I'd still love to discuss it with you. 

Email me at enquiry@withawareness.com.au

The mall has opened with only be a few stores there at the start.

I'm still hoping to find people interested in selling these products:

*adults' and children's organic cotton/hemp clothing (not just babies', which seems to be more common)
*sweat free shoes
*organic cotton/hemp and organic wool nappies, covers, and accessories
*women's needs - reusable menstrual and breast pads
*fair trade food - coffee, chocolate, tea, etc
*bags - lunch bags, shopping bags, hand bags, etc
*knitting and sewing supplies
*gardening and composting items
*toys
*stationery, wrapping paper, gift cards, office products
*body products - hand creams, face creams, baby products, shampoos, etc
*anything to help conserve water/power

Many of these I can give you supplier details for, so if you've considered starting up a small home-based retail business, picking one of these product groups and using the mall set up could be an easy way to do it.