Ethical Consumer

What Ethical Consumer does

Revenue is generated through four streams: individual subscriptions at £34.50–£39.50 per year for full website and magazine access, paid consultancy services to organisations including Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Co-op Bank and The Guardian, advertising from ethically vetted companies, and grants. An institutional subscription tier has been added for businesses and organisations, and a free weekly Friday e-newsletter functions as a freemium funnel. The organisation is structured as a co-operative with open membership, is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation, and is certified by the Fair Tax Foundation.

Name

Ethical Consumer

Legal name

Ethical Consumer Research Association Ltd

Website

https://ethicalconsumer.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ethical Consumer is a Manchester-based, not-for-profit co-operative that publishes ethical ratings and shopping guides for 40,000+ brands and products, serving ethically-minded UK consumers, NGOs, and ethical businesses through a subscription magazine and website.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ethical Consumer Research & Ratings

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAIAOAE

Consumer Protection & Product Safety Regulators

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Regulatory Agencies & Licensing (Cross-sector)

SECONDARYMPAAADAB

Consumer & Lifestyle PR

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Public Relations & Communications Agencies

Keywords

• Ethical consumer research
• Corporate ethics ratings
• Sustainable shopping guides
• Ethical magazine publishing
• Consumer advocacy research

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Reader Subscriptions: Subscription income from individuals subscribing to the magazine (print and/or digital) and full website access including shopping guides and company profiles. Subscriptions cost £39.50/year by card/PayPal/cheque or £34.50 by Direct Debit.
2. Consultancy Services: Research and consultancy services provided for campaign groups and organisations including Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Co-op Bank, and the Guardian.
3. Advertising: Income from adverts placed by ethically vetted companies in the magazine and on the website.
4. Grants and Other Income: Grants and other miscellaneous income sources.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Ethical Consumer is an independent, not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder co-operative that publishes detailed ethical ratings for 40,000+ companies, brands and products. Its core offering is a recurring bi-monthly magazine, an online ratings database and over 100 ethical shopping guides, generated from a proprietary 300-topic scoring rubric covering 19 research areas. Access to the full ratings database and shopping guides is gated behind an annual subscription, with additional revenue from advertising, consultancy, and grant income.

Product overview

Ethical Consumer operates as a multi-stakeholder co-operative offering a suite of products centered around ethical consumption research and guidance. The core offering consists of Ethical Consumer Magazine (published 6 times yearly in print and digital formats) and over 100 Ethical Shopping Guides covering 40,000+ brands and products. These guides are powered by the company's proprietary Ethical Ratings System, which evaluates companies across 300+ topics in 5 categories (people, environment, animals, politics, sustainability). Supporting products include detailed Company Profiles with subscriber-gated information, Campaigning Resources including boycott campaigns, Consultancy Services for organisations, a Best Buy Label accreditation, and a weekly newsletter. The company positions its magazine and shopping guides as integrated tools—subscribers receive full website access including both the guides and company profiles, while the magazine format provides editorial context and in-depth features alongside product recommendations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ethical Consumer Magazine A bi-monthly print and digital publication delivering ethical ratings, features, investigations, shopping guides and reviews of companies, brands and products for paying subscribers and the wider readership. It is the flagship editorial product of the co-operative.
• Online Ethical Ratings Database Subscriber-only online database providing detailed ethical ratings, scores and trade-off explanations for 40,000+ companies, brands and products, scored across 300+ topics in 19 research areas (Environment, Animals, People, Politics, Sustainability). Enables users to search and compare the ethics of specific brands and products.
• Ethical Shopping Guides (100+ guides) Curated, regularly updated ethical shopping guides covering 100+ consumer product and service categories, ranking and explaining the most ethical and least ethical options. Sold to subscribers and available individually as guides.
• Company Profile Pages Individual, publicly viewable profiles of the 40,000+ companies in the database, summarising their ethical scores and the underlying evidence. Available on the website, with full access gated behind subscription.
• Best Buy Label accreditation An accreditation scheme that licenses the Ethical Consumer Best Buy mark to qualifying ethical brands and products, providing them with a recognised independent endorsement to display on packaging and in marketing. Targeted at ethical businesses seeking independent validation.
• Ethical Consumer Consultancy Services Bespoke commissioned research, sector rankings and ethical analyses sold to NGOs, campaign groups, local councils and ethical businesses, leveraging the in-house research methodology and database. For example, custom local council 'ethical employer' rankings.
• Annual Subscription (individual) The core paid offering: an annual subscription priced at £39.50/year (card) or £34.50/year (Direct Debit) granting full access to the ratings database, ethical shopping guides and the bi-monthly magazine for individual subscribers.
• Free Weekly Newsletter (Ethical Mailer) A free, opt-in weekly email newsletter providing ethics-related news, rating updates and shopping guide tips. Used as a top-of-funnel lead-generation tool for paid subscriptions.
• Institutional / Library Subscription Subscription tier sold to libraries, universities, NGOs and public-sector organisations, providing shared or institutional access to the Ethical Consumer ratings database and editorial content.

Quantifiable outcome

• Boycotting and positive buying is now the third most frequently practised political activity after voting and signing a petition
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The GuardiancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Guardian has utilized Ethical Consumer's research and consultancy services for investigations and reporting on corporate ethics and consumer issues.
• Co-op BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-op Bank has engaged Ethical Consumer for research services related to ethical banking and corporate responsibility assessments.
• Amnesty InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmnesty International has collaborated with Ethical Consumer for research and consultancy on human rights issues in corporate supply chains.
• Christian AidcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerChristian Aid has worked with Ethical Consumer on research related to corporate ethics, tax justice, and development issues.
• Lush PrizeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEthical Consumer collaborates on The Lush Prize, a campaign and prize for alternatives to animal testing.
• Fair Tax FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEthical Consumer helped set up the Fair Tax Mark certification scheme and continues to collaborate on tax justice issues.
• Save Our BankminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEthical Consumer helped set up the Save Our Bank campaign focused on ethical banking and continues to collaborate on banking sector campaigns.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ethical Corporation: Business-facing publication and events company covering corporate sustainability, ESG, and ethics, sharing Ethical Consumer's editorial-research model and overlapping audience of sustainability professionals, though skewing B2B rather than consumer.
• Good On You: Good On You rates fashion brands on ethical and environmental performance via a public-facing app and dataset, mirroring Ethical Consumer's ratings-and-shopping-guides model in the fashion vertical with similar consumer and brand customers.

Broad incumbents

• Which?: UK consumer watchdog and subscription magazine that produces independent product and service reviews across categories, sharing the same consumer-advocacy positioning and subscription-funded business model as Ethical Consumer but on a much larger scale and broader topic set.
• B Lab Global (B Corporation): B Lab certifies companies against verified social and environmental standards via the B Corp label, paralleling Ethical Consumer's Best Buy Label as a third-party trust mark for ethical business performance with overlapping target customers (ethical businesses seeking differentiation).

Regional players

• Resurgence & Ecologist: Long-running UK magazine covering ecology, sustainability, and ethical living with a similar subscription-funded print/digital model and overlapping reader base of ethically-minded UK consumers.

Emerging players

• Open Food Facts: Open collaborative product database providing sustainability, processing, and label data on packaged goods — a free, open-data alternative that competes for the same shoppers seeking ethical product information on food and household goods.
• Climate Neutral Certified: Certification standard for companies measuring and reducing carbon footprint, overlapping with Ethical Consumer's environmental category of ratings and vying for the same ethically-minded brand customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/EC_magazine
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5MT-qo3glTd04q71gwCNEw
• Facebookfacebook.com/ethicalconsumermagazine
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ethical-consumer
• Instagraminstagram.com/ethical_consumer_magazine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ethical Consumer