Food For Good: Thrive Market Secures B-Corp Certification

Sometimes the digital-first economy means the planet-first economy. After basing its brand on environmentally friendly products and a sustainable business model for six years, the membership-based grocery Thrive Market has been recognized for its efforts – not with funding or a financial milestone, but by its new designation as a B-corp.

Certified B corporations, according to the Certified B Corporation group, are “businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.” Among the certified companies: Allbirds, Patagonia and Beautycounter.

Nick Green, CEO of Thrive Market, told PYMNTS that he interprets the designation as a recognition that the company is looking out for the long-term interest of its members, employees, investors and suppliers, as well as the planet. In pursuit of B-corp certification, all of Thrive Market’s practices — from the farms it partners with, to its zero-waste fulfillment centers, to the way it hires and manages employees — were considered.

And it’s also good business.

“Many of our members have been inclined to join Thrive Market because of our environmental practices and mission-driven business model, and we’re confident that this formal certification will draw additional members who share our core values,” Green said. “Since 2015, we’ve built an incredible, engaged community of over one million members, and we are excited to grow the family even further.”

The recognition puts Thrive in a unique category as the first national grocer to receive the B-corp stamp of approval. Green encourages his peers and competitors to take the steps toward practices that create sustainability.

“We measure the success of our marketing campaigns by whether they bring value and engagement to the member community,” Green said. “Sometimes value means launching differentiated products like our Regenerative line or Thrive Market-branded items, and sometimes that means introducing highly requested features like autoship. Across any of these, we find that the best response comes when the business objectives and customer value is tied into the mission of offering access to healthy products.

“So while we’ve seen heightened engagement since launching autoship, we also see enthusiasm and increased shopping from members (new and old) when we launch campaigns that empower them to help others access healthy essentials,” he continued. “A good example of this was our COVID-19 relief fund efforts, where our community raised over $1 million to fund access to healthy essentials for over 30,000 families affected by the pandemic.”

The pandemic has spurred tremendous growth at Thrive, as it has at most online grocery companies. Its standard 40 percent year-over-year growth rate more than doubled to 90 percent, and product orders surged by 100 percent and even 1,000 percent in certain categories.

“Thrive Market isn’t just a company with a mission; we’re a company on a mission,” said  Mission Manager Kristin De Simone. “At our core, we believe that healthy living should be a priority, not a privilege. Thrive Gives is that mission in practice. Through our one-for-one membership matching program, every paid Thrive Market membership provides a free one for a low-income family, student, teacher, veteran or first responder. Additionally, we’ve donated nearly one million memberships and $3.8 million in cash and healthy groceries to fund food access and environmental sustainability causes since 2015.”