What B2B marketers can learn from NOUS anti-gaspi, Too Good To Go and Back Market about positioning, proof and conversion.

There is something quietly interesting about walking into a shop that sells products other retailers did not want to keep.

A packet may have a short date, a fruit may look less polished, a product might come from surplus stock, or a phone may have had a previous life before being refurbished and sold again.

The product may still have real value, while asking the customer for a little more trust before they choose it.

• Is this still good?
• Is it safe?
• Is the lower price hiding a weaker experience?
• Am I making a smart choice, or accepting a compromise?

That question is what makes anti-waste commerce such a strong marketing case study.

“Brands like NOUS anti-gaspi, Too Good To Go and Back Market sell products that need trust before they can be chosen. Their growth depends on making products with an initial trust gap feel understandable, credible and worth choosing.”

In B2B marketing, buyers also make decisions under uncertainty. They may be interested in a product, but still unsure about implementation, risk, quality, data, support, compliance or internal buy-in. In categories like this, conversion is not just persuasion. It is risk reduction.

The value of “imperfect” depends on how it is framed

A short-dated product is not automatically a bad product. A wonky vegetable is not less nutritious. A surplus item is not less useful. A refurbished phone is not necessarily less reliable.

The meaning attached to the product often matters as much as the product itself.

Modern commerce has spent years making quality feel synonymous with freshness, abundance and newness. A full shelf feels reassuring, a pristine product feels safer, and a new device often feels easier to trust than one with a previous life.

Positioning matters here because it shapes whether the customer sees imperfection as a risk or as part of the value.

Many B2B products also carry a perceived flaw. They can be complex, technical, regulated, expensive, hard to implement or difficult to compare. Weak marketing tries to smooth over that friction. Stronger marketing explains why the friction exists and what value it creates.

Anti-waste commerce has grown because it solves several tensions at once

Food waste is not a small problem. The European Commission states that more than 58 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually in the EU, with an associated market value estimated at €132 billion. [1]

In France, anti-waste and food destocking have become a more visible commercial category. Xerfi estimated that the turnover of food destocking and anti-waste specialists reached €520 million in France in 2024. [2]

Those figures explain the economic relevance of the category. The buying decision itself is more layered.

The best models make the buying decision feel both rational and emotionally acceptable. The customer can say: “I saved money, avoided waste, and still got something useful.”

It also connects with something I explored in From Scarcity to Stewardship: The New Psychology of Conscious Consumers. Responsible consumption is no longer only about values. It is also about proof, affordability, usefulness and trust.

Awareness does not remove hesitation

Most people already understand that food waste is a problem, and many consumers know that buying refurbished can reduce environmental impact. Awareness creates interest; confidence turns that interest into behaviour.

“At the moment of purchase, the buyer needs more than awareness. They need to feel that the product is safe, the price reflects real value and the sustainability message is not hiding a weaker experience.”

A similar pattern appears in B2B SaaS, fintech and marketplaces.

Buyers may understand the problem and agree with your category narrative, but they still need practical reassurance: will the product work, can the team deliver, is implementation manageable, is the data reliable, and can the decision be defended internally?

That is why the most interesting anti-waste brands do more than create demand. They design the buying experience around the hesitation itself.

NOUS anti-gaspi makes anti-waste feel like normal shopping

NOUS anti-gaspi is interesting because it brings anti-waste into a familiar retail format.

From the outside, the model is simple: sell everyday products that would otherwise risk being wasted, often at lower prices, through physical stores. The marketing challenge is more subtle. NOUS anti-gaspi sells discounted products, but its real marketing challenge is to normalise a different way of shopping.

For the model to work, customers need to feel that buying anti-waste products is not strange, risky or second best. It has to feel like a practical grocery choice.

The brand connects several layers of value at once: price, everyday usefulness, waste reduction, local shopping habits and a familiar retail experience.

According to Plan Bio, NOUS anti-gaspi raised €3 million in 2024 and reported 28 stores and €41 million in turnover for 2023. [3] In January 2026, Linéaires reported that the brand planned to open eight new stores in 2026, including a Paris opening on Boulevard Richard Lenoir, with further development planned in Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon. [4]

The exact figures will evolve, but the direction is clear: anti-waste is no longer only a niche activist behaviour. It is becoming a more structured retail proposition.

For B2B marketers, the useful lesson is about adoption. A new behaviour becomes easier to accept when it is embedded in a format the buyer already understands.

If your product asks buyers to change how they work, report, buy, analyse or decide, the experience cannot feel completely foreign. You need to make the new behaviour legible through familiar cues: clear categories, simple next steps, transparent pricing, recognisable workflows, proof points and onboarding that reduces uncertainty.

Too Good To Go makes waste reduction feel small enough to act on

Instead of putting anti-waste into a physical grocery format, it turns surplus food into a small, repeatable action. The customer opens the app, finds a nearby partner, reserves a discounted surprise bag and collects it during a specific time window.

The surprise element could have been a barrier. People do not always know exactly what they will get, and that uncertainty creates friction. Too Good To Go gives that uncertainty a structure.

Too Good To Go says it has grown to more than 120 million registered users and 180,000 active business partners and has helped save more than 500 million meals from being wasted. [5] As this is company-reported data, it should be treated as self-reported impact rather than independent verification. Still, it shows the scale of the behaviour the company is trying to build.

That is why the first action matters. It gives the customer a way to test the promise without needing to believe the whole story upfront.

Back Market shows why proof has to appear before conversion

Refurbished electronics carry one of the clearest trust problems in circular commerce.

“The value proposition is attractive: cheaper devices, less waste, less pressure to buy new. But the buyer may still worry about battery life, hidden defects, seller quality, warranty, support and what happens if the device fails.”

Back Market has to make refurbished feel safe enough to choose, with sustainability as part of the value rather than the whole argument.

The company does this through visible trust mechanisms. Its own site highlights refurbishment standards, up to 100-point quality inspections, free 30-day returns and a 1-year warranty. [6]

In 2024, The Guardian reported that Back Market had expanded to 18 countries, raised more than $1 billion and worked with around 1,700 traders and refurbishers. The same article quoted CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze describing the “trust gap” between refurbished products and new devices. [7]

A trust gap closes when quality control, guarantees and seller standards become visible before the customer feels too much risk.

Many companies have strong operational proof, but they hide it too deep in the journey. The best evidence sits in sales decks, onboarding calls, legal documents, security questionnaires, help centres or customer success processes. By the time the buyer sees it, they may already have hesitated.

When operations answer a real objection, they should be part of the story. In B2B, that proof can come from onboarding processes, data governance, customer support, partner vetting, security standards or implementation frameworks.

Before the buyer says yes

Across these examples, the important work happens before the customer says yes.

The brand changes how the buyer interprets the perceived flaw, then adds enough proof to make the decision feel reasonable.

The pattern is simple: identify the hesitation, make the trade-off clear, show proof early, and make the first step feel low-risk. Anti-waste brands do this because they have to. B2B marketers should do it because buyers are already asking these questions before they convert.

A lot of marketing becomes too thin at exactly this stage. It jumps from claim to CTA without doing the confidence-building work in between.

A company may say it is more sustainable, more efficient, AI-powered, future-facing or built for growth, while the buyer is still wondering whether the claim is credible, what will actually change, how difficult adoption will be and whether the decision can be defended internally.

The experience still has to hold

This is also where the limits of anti-waste commerce become important. These models can easily become romantic stories about better consumption, but they are operationally difficult businesses.

Supply can be unpredictable, margins can be thin, quality may vary, and operations are often complex. There is also a deeper paradox: if society becomes better at preventing waste, businesses built around surplus need to keep evolving.

Poor quality, unclear impact or inflated claims can make consumers question whether the model truly reduces waste or whether it simply turns surplus into another polished commercial story.

Ethical intent may create the first reason to care, but repeat behaviour still depends on the experience. A weak product, a disappointing basket or an unreliable warranty quickly remind customers that mission alone cannot carry the relationship.

The brands that hold up over time combine mission with practical value. Price, convenience, reassurance, local access, guarantees and repeatable behaviour all matter.

What B2B marketers can take from this

Anti-waste commerce gives B2B marketers a useful logic: study the hesitation before trying to accelerate the conversion. A SaaS company does not need to behave like a grocery store, and a fintech platform does not need to imitate an anti-waste app.

Make the trade-off visible

B2B buyers need to understand what they are choosing.

A clear trade-off is easier to trust than a polished promise. Setup time, specialisation, structured workflows or higher pricing do not have to weaken the offer, as long as the buyer understands what each constraint protects, clarifies or helps avoid.

Turn abstract claims into customer jobs

A lot of B2B messaging starts too high up. Words like growth, innovation, efficiency, transformation and AI-powered performance may be relevant, but they often fail to explain what the buyer can actually do next.

Move proof closer to the first moment of doubt

If a buyer has to book a demo before they understand your methodology, security posture, onboarding process or customer results, the journey is asking for trust too early.

Move proof into the places where hesitation already appears: landing pages, comparison pages, FAQs, pricing pages, case studies, product explainers, demo follow-ups, nurture emails and onboarding content.

This is where anti-waste commerce connects with circular growth loops: the strongest models do not simply acquire users. They create repeat behaviours around value, trust and participation.

Growth is what happens when the customer has enough confidence to come back.

Look for trust leakage before adding more traffic

Trust leakage happens when a buyer understands the offer but still does not feel safe enough to move forward. More traffic will not fix that. The friction sits inside the proof, the reassurance, the onboarding story or the perceived risk.

This is where B2B marketers should look before assuming the problem is demand.

This is a more useful way to diagnose growth in trust-sensitive categories. Not every conversion problem is a CTA problem. Sometimes the buyer simply does not have enough confidence yet.

FAQ

What is anti-waste commerce?

Anti-waste commerce is the sale, redistribution or revalorisation of products that are still usable but at risk of being wasted, discarded or undervalued. This can include surplus food, short-date groceries, imperfect products, unsold meals, refurbished electronics and other circular commerce models.

Why are anti-waste brands relevant to B2B marketing?

Because they sell under imperfect conditions. Their products often carry a perceived flaw, which makes them useful examples for B2B categories where trust, risk and proof shape conversion.

What can SaaS companies learn from Too Good To Go or Back Market?

SaaS companies can learn how to reduce perceived risk before conversion. Too Good To Go turns a big problem into a simple, repeatable action. Back Market makes quality control and reassurance visible. Both show that trust should be designed into the customer journey, not added at the end.

Is anti-waste commerce only about sustainability?

Sustainability sits alongside price, convenience, quality reassurance, trust signals and repeat behaviour.

How can B2B marketers reduce perceived risk before conversion?

By making proof visible earlier: customer evidence, methodology, security information, onboarding clarity, transparent FAQs and operational credibility.

Conclusion

Anti-waste commerce is interesting because it begins with products that can raise doubts, then builds a buying experience around those doubts.

NOUS anti-gaspi does it through familiarity. Too Good To Go does it by making uncertainty feel small and actionable. Back Market does it by making proof visible before the customer has to take the risk.

For B2B marketers, the useful lesson is to notice where buyers hesitate before trying to accelerate the conversion. Sometimes the problem is not demand, positioning or traffic in isolation. Sometimes the buyer simply does not feel safe enough to move.

In anti-waste commerce and B2B growth, trust is part of the system that makes conversion possible.

💌 If you want more essays on ethical growth, trust-led marketing and practical B2B growth systems, you can join Conscious Growth Dispatch here.

Sources

[1] European Commission, Food waste, accessed May 2026. The Commission states that over 58 million tonnes of food waste are generated annually in the EU, with an associated market value estimated at €132 billion.

[2] Xerfi, Le marché du déstockage et de l’anti-gaspi alimentaire, published 27 June 2025. Xerfi estimates that the turnover of food destocking and anti-waste specialists reached €520 million in France in 2024.

[3] Plan Bio, L’enseigne NOUS anti-gaspi lève trois millions d’euros et ouvrira 3 magasins d’ici fin 2024, published 2024. The article reports NOUS anti-gaspi’s €3 million fundraising, 28 stores and €41 million turnover in 2023.

[4] Linéaires, NOUS anti-gaspi ouvrira 8 magasins en 2026, published 15 January 2026. The article reports the brand’s plan to open eight new stores in 2026, including a Paris opening on Boulevard Richard Lenoir.

[5] Too Good To Go, Too Good To Go Accelerates U.S. Expansion, published 27 August 2025. The company states that it has 120 million registered users, 180,000 active partners across 19 countries and more than 500 million meals saved from waste.

[6] Back Market, Back Market: refurbished tech that’s better for the planet, accessed May 2026. Back Market highlights refurbishment standards, up to 100-point quality inspection, 30-day returns and a 1-year warranty.

[7] The Guardian, “It should be a right to fix your phone”: the boss of booming secondhand tech firm Back Market, published 11 June 2024. The article discusses Back Market’s international growth, refurbisher network and the trust gap around refurbished electronics.

The post How Anti-Waste Brands Make Imperfect Products Easier to Trust appeared first on SAMIN GHIASI | GROWTH MARKETING CONSULTANT | FR/EN.