Rodale Institute and Makeena App Partner to Make Organic Shopping More Affordable

This new app might just be the savior for all organic product lovers. Rodale Institute has partnered with the smartphone app Makeena. Rodale is a non-profit organization that utilizes organic farming methods and has a mission to make organic foods more affordable.

Users of the app can browse through thousands of promotional deals but that’s not where it ends. The app allows consumers to take a photo of any product bought online or in-store and scan the product’s UPC which allows the app to make an electronic deposit to their Makeena account. When a user’s account reaches $20 they can then cash the money out using Venmo or PayPal.

Makeena works similarly to the reward-based apps Ibotta and ShopKick. Ibotta, launched in 2012, lets shoppers scan receipts for rewards. Forbes reported Ibotta users spend over $6 billion yearly using the app. When it comes to Shopkick, it was found that consumers spend about $30 more per visit than the consumers who don’t use the app.

Consumers aren’t the only ones benefiting from this app. Makeena also offers real-time analytics which allows marketers to push successful promotions and target their offers based on the collected consumer data. The promotional deals and products on the app are curated by Karen Frame, Makeena founder, and her staff. Brands can pay for the cost of promotion and use the analytics to decide which promotions to push.

“We have created a safe and welcoming community centered around better choices. We help families be healthier and happier. Our fundamental mission is to make better choices easier because they are more affordable,” Frame stated in a news release.

The brands associated with this app so far are: Lundberg Farms, Goddess Garden, Primal Pit Products ad Bhakti Chai. Frame also noted that organic products have been popular but can be difficult to market due to higher prices. However, it is said that the US is the biggest consumer market for organic products. Eighty-two percent of American homes supply themselves with organic products according to The Organic Trade Association.

In fact, millennials seem to make up a big bulk of organic product consumers. Over 50 percent of organic shoppers are said to be millennial parents. Only 20 percent of millennials are parents but it is expected that around 80 percent will eventually be parents – this means there will be a huge opportunity for organic product sales to rise even high in the next decade or so.

Organic labeled fruits and veggies are grown without most of the synthetic pesticides. On top of that, they’re 48 percent less likely to test positive for cadmium. Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that can accumulate in the kidneys or liver. Organic meats and dairy have around 50 percent more omega-3 fatty acids, which is a type of unsaturated healthy fat. With these benefits, it’s no surprise the organic food market is starting to boom.

The Makeena app could be the first step in making organic foods more available and affordable for consumers everywhere. How popular this app will be has yet to be determined.