Want to support small Australian businesses this holiday season? The Conscious Customer Co is a great place to start.

Co-founded by Emma and Kara Hackett, sisters and seasoned online shoppers, The Conscious Customer Co is an online marketplace connecting conscious customers who want to shop locally with great products from small Australian businesses.

“The idea came about when we were Christmas shopping last year. We wanted to support small Australian vendors by buying from them but were experiencing great difficulty working out who to buy from and sorting the various products on offer,” said Emma.

The sisters shared that they could only research businesses and products by attending local markets or through some intense social media searching.

“So, we asked ourselves, ‘How can we help small local businesses thrive and make it easier for consumers to support them?’And so, The Conscious Customer Co. was born – a website that allows conscious customers to find great products from small local retailers that align with their values and budget.”

The Conscious Customer Co lists sustainable fashion, accessories, homewares, beauty products, food & beverages, pet products and more.

Customers can browse the website to discover new small businesses to support and new products they love. Similarly to how they browse other online marketplaces, they can sort through an extensive catalogue of products and sort by price, product category and brand, or specifically view products that align with their values.

For example, they can filter products that are ‘vegan’, ‘First Nations owned’, ‘made from recycled materials’ or ‘made by a regional business’.

The Conscious Customer Co is unique because its users do not purchase products via the website. Instead, The Conscious Customer Co adds a purchase link to each product listing that redirects the user straight to the small business’ website to purchase so the small business can reap all the benefits of their online sale.

They don’t stock or ship products, they don’t take a cut of the sale, and they don’t handle any of the customer interactions – they simply make it easier for conscious customers to find great products and, in turn, boost brand awareness for the small businesses listed on The Conscious Customer Co.

Related: Supporting our small businesses and NFPs through tough times