Online
Marketplace Abe's Market to Start Funding Organic Businesses
On
Abe’s Market, an online marketplace for
natural products, you can order skin, hair and body care items from a company
called Valley
Green Naturals. You’ll find typical information about each product -- price,
ingredients etc. – but you’ll also find a video introducing the husband and wife team
behind the line. “Valley Green naturals is a labor of love between Art and
Cindy DeVore,” a voiceover explains. “They met over 29 years ago when they were
stationed together in Mississippi. Art was a marine, while Cindy was in the
Navy.
A little cheesy, perhaps. But
the video transforms Valley Green Naturals from a faceless company into an
idyllic brand. Consumers can also ask Cindy and Art specific questions: so far,
inquiries run the gamut from if they test on animals (they don’t) to the
consistency and texture of their “Quencher” moisturizer (slightly on the
thicker side, but it absorbs into the skin easily).
These
direct interactions between small-business owner and
consumers, along with a commitment to natural and organic products, is what
defines Abe’s Market, says Richard Demb, the Chicago-based company’s CEO and
co-founder.