As the world becomes more conscious of the negative impact of human activity on our planet, businesses start taking steps towards a more sustainable future. One way to achieve this is through transitioning to a circular economy. In this blog, we'll explore the concept of the circular economy and 5 reasons why your brand should make the transition in 2023.

The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which seeks to reduce waste and increase resource efficiency. It works by reusing already existing resources, reducing the need for new raw materials, and repurposing or recycling products at the end of their life cycle. The circular economy serves as an alternative to the traditional “take-make-waste” model, which includes the extraction of finite materials, their wasteful processing for production of new products, and the eventual disposal of these products after use.

How could the concept of circular economy be beneficial for your brand?

Transitioning to a circular economy can significantly reduce the environmental impact of your brand. By preventing your products from becoming waste dumped in a landfill, you lower the huge amount of CO2 emissions generated in landfills and reduce your carbon footprint. Putting these products back to the market can help you reduce energy consumption to produce new products, while it can increase your resource and revenue streams. In the meantime, you can slowly integrate futher techniques for circular change, such as use of your own recycled materials and circular design.

Circular business models can boost your brand's profitability. By shifting the mindset and viewing waste as a valuable resource, you can decrease production costs and start reusing and recycling existing products. Circular solutions like recommerce and upcycling can create new revenue streams for your company. To get started, you can implement a takeback program and collect back pre-loved goods to further resell them in third party resale platforms or your own channels. iceep's solution enables you to efficiently recover your own old products with a plugin, and prepare them for resale on your own custom secondhand platform.

Today consumers are becoming more conscious about their purchases and demand more efforts from brands, concerning the sustainability of their products. By adopting a circular business model you can improve your brand’s reputation, demonstrate your commitment to sustainability and innovation, as well as your strong corporate responsibility. More and more shoppers choose to buy from brands aligned with their values. Thus, it’s a good timing to start working on that.

In addition to attracting new customers, making your brand circular can strengthen your customer loyalty and build trust within your existing audience. By offering a take-back program and encouraging your customers to return and repurpose their used goods, you show how much you value your products and how much you care about your customers and their needs. A free takeback service and a rewarding system proves that you go the extra mile to save your customers from a long existing problem (their cluttered closets) and you take responsibility of your own waste. Meanwhile, you keep them in the loop for future purchases and raise your Customer Lifetime Value.

The circular economy is gradually becoming the norm. By shifting to a circular business model, you can position your business for long-term success and stay ahead of competition. Furthermore, while others jump on the bandwagon of trends without insights on the subject, you can stand out by doing it the right way: set the basis for going circular with a digital takeback, gain visibility over your takeback activities and then move on to building a structured recommerce and a recycling program.

Transitioning your brand to the circular economy requires a shift in mindset and a complete restructure of your business model. Nevertheless, you can slowly achieve that by starting a take-back program, managing better your existing resources, and taking advantage of new revenue streams. It's also important to be transparent throughout the whole process. Communicate your circularity strategy and efforts to your customers, but make sure you have enough data and references that prove the results of your circular activities. Transparency is essential for realizing the full potential of circularity and avoiding greenwashing claims in the future.

There you have it, five reasons why your brand should join circular economy in 2023. With the right mindset and approach, your brand can play a vital role in creating a more sustainable future through circularity.

Would you like to learn more about how to start transitioning or how our TradeIn plugin can help you close the loop? Book a demo and join us, to build a resourceful and waste-free industry together!