Ramdam Social: the first range of sharing products that turns every purchase into a gesture of solidarity
Ramdam Social is bringing the "product-sharing" category up to date: products whose purchase systematically generates a donation for a person in need, in partnership with local associations such as Secours Populaire, SamuSocial or Banques Alimentaires. With 14 products soon to be available in stores and a nationwide rollout at Carrefour, the gamble is about to pay off. Let's take a look at what convinced us to invest in this impact company.
- A model at the crossroads of several markets
1.1. Consumer goods: a huge market
With its innovative sharing products, Ramdam Social is targeting the colossal mass retail market. The startup is looking at three sectors, targeting a new one each year: food (2024), hygiene products (2025) and beverages (2026). These markets are valued at €2.9 billion, €760 million and €579 million respectively.
While this market is obviously dominated by major food groups, it is so vast that the marginal share left to innovative products with original positioning easily represents more than a hundred million euros.
What's more, the mass retail market also values solutions with a positive impact on various aspects. Indeed, its presence at the heart of everyone's daily life makes it an important social issue.
1.2. Donation: an ecosystem driven by a host of innovations
Relations between companies and associations have undergone significant change in recent years, moving from conflictual relationships to increasingly sophisticated forms of partnership. This is part of an underlying trend: in 2021, €2.3 billion in donations will be declared by companies to the French tax authorities(source).
These innovations include "untied purse" giving, which costs the consumer nothing, and " embedded giving", which consists of giving a very small amount deducted from or added to the amount of a transaction, which then benefits a cause. These include, for example, rounding off purchases and salaries, which has grown over time in France, reaching 50 million euros/year.
The attractiveness of this type of donation lies in the simplicity of the gesture - for example, at the time of payment - and also in the small amount involved. Since its inception, MicroDON has collected over 60 million euros.
1.3. Sharing products: from a marketing tool to a new model of responsible consumption
Although not yet widespread, this practice is gaining ground in France. Known by various names, such as "produit-partage" or "cause marketing", it does not yet have an official definition, except that in practice it refers to the sale of "a product or service, part of the price of which is donated to a public-interest organization, in exchange for the company's use of its name in its communications" (Admical).
There are a few examples of this type of marketing operation, such as the Unicef and Volvic partnership "1 liter purchased = 10L drawn from Africa", or more recently the " Panda phone ", a partnership between Back Market and the WWF France foundation.
Sharing products are part of this consumer trend towards more socially responsible products.
Share in Germany is certainly the best-known of the product-sharing brands cited as examples: €40 million in sales last year and over 140 million humanitarian aid actions since the launch in 2018, reaching over 2.6 million people in social projects in Germany and around the world.
- Ramdam Social, the first category entirely dedicated to product-sharing in France
2.1. Sharing at the heart of the Ramdam Social model
Unlike temporary initiatives such as Volvic or BackMarket, Ramdam Social's entire business model is built around donations. Each sale generates a very concrete donation to a predefined association, amounting to between 7% and 10% of sales. To achieve this, the startup works in partnership with a number of associations, including Secours Populaire, Samusocial and food banks.
For a packet of potato chips, for example, Ramdam Social finances the distribution of a snack (a hot drink, cookie or soup) as part of its outreach programs or at day-care centers.
Over time, Ramdam Social aims to diversify its solidarity range by tackling different forms of precariousness: food at first, then hygiene, digital...
2.2. A committed, experienced team
The Ramdam Social team is made up of its two founders, Julie and Olivier. They have pooled both their ambition to facilitate giving in France and their wealth of experience in the responsible consumption sector:
- Julie: this is the marketing hat. Julie has a wealth of experience as Marketing Director forInnocent and Happyvore.
- Luc-Olivier: this is the sales hat. Luc-Olivier has held sales management positions at Bel and Too Good To Go.
- A clear social impact and the ambition to initiate a real upheaval
The Ramdam Social project was born out of an observation: solidarity, as we understand it today, often remains dependent on charity, on a voluntary, one-off gesture. To be effective on a large scale, it needs to become a reflex, an integral part of everyday life. Ramdam Social's vision is simple: every purchase, every daily gesture can be a vehicle for solidarity, without any extra effort or sacrifice.
For 2024 Ramdam Social's ambition is to generate 250,000 food donations between 10 and 25 cents each, before rolling out more widely nationwide for 2025.
But Ramdam Social's impact goes beyond mere financial generosity; the company is also committed to sustainable agricultural practices, working with local producers who are paid a fair price. Ramdam Social's medium-term ambition is to develop the local economy and promote employment.
By innovating in the way it thinks about giving and consumption, Ramdam Social aims to become a model for other companies wishing to combine economic performance with social responsibility, while raising consumer awareness of the challenges of precariousness.
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