Fredericton’s Eco-Friendly Home Improvement Site Launches Online Store
FREDERICTON— Rise is a Fredericton-based company that helps homeowners be more sustainable by educating them on the latest innovative products. On Monday, they opened an online store that will give viewers a way to buy the products talked about on their site.
Matt Daigle, the CEO of the certified B Corporation, said that after reading articles on their website viewers would often ask, ‘Ok, now where can I buy this?’
“It turns out that a lot of these products aren’t super accessible for folks, a lot of them you can’t find at your big box store, a lot of them are at the bleeding edge of innovation,” said Daigle.
No longer is this the case. Rise’s online store offers an assortment of home improvement products, from flooring to mattresses. The most important thing about a product on the site is that in some way it helps the customer’s health, wealth, and the planet.
“Any product or material that we suggest or present to our audience has to benefit you on one or all of those traits,” said Daigle.
Since launching the site in 2017, they have welcomed over 5 million users to their site. They have also built a team of writers and researchers who dig into sustainable home improvement focusing on different ways to build and what materials are best.
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“We understood that to show homeowners that there is a better product out there you have to educate them on those products and why it might be beneficial to them,” said Daigle.
Some stores operate under the assumption that customers come in knowing what they want to buy. Rise instead aims to educate the customer on the different options before they make a purchase. This is especially important when it comes to a complicated goal like sustainability.
For example, Daigle said, “There are a lot of products out there that might be more expensive upfront but have a much longer life cycle and much less maintenance fees and it tends to be around for a long time and for that fact ends up being cheaper than buying the cheaper product.”
The store aims to make sustainable options more accessible for homeowners who are interested.
“Climate change is part of that but also giving homeowners better homes, giving them access to items and products that they may not have thought of otherwise but that’s going to benefit them for years to come,” said Daigle.
Rise’s online store ships to Canada and the US.
“As of today now we can actually close the loop with those readers who actually want to buy those products and have them delivered right to their door,” said Daigle.
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Rachel Smith is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected].