GreenSwitch

Inspiration

We were inspired by the growing environmental impact of e-commerce shopping, where consumers often choose convenience over sustainability. With the rise of conscious consumerism, we wanted to build a simple tool that makes it effortless for people to discover eco-friendly alternatives without disrupting their shopping habits. GreenSwitch was born out of the idea that sustainability should be the default, not an afterthought.

What it does

GreenSwitch is a Chrome extension that integrates directly into online shopping. When users browse products on marketplaces like Amazon, GreenSwitch automatically suggests eco-friendly alternatives from trusted sustainable platforms such as ReFit Global, BrownLiving, GreenFeels, and KindLife. The goal is to make sustainable shopping as convenient as possible by surfacing greener choices right at the point of purchase.

How we built it

~Frontend: A Chrome extension (manifest v3) with content and background scripts to detect user activity and display alternatives.

~Backend: A Flask server hosted on Fly.io that handles product queries, integrates MongoDB for user onboarding and click tracking, and fetches alternatives from our partner marketplaces using custom scrapers.

~AI: Groq’s LLaMA 3.3 model is used to refine user queries for better search matching.

~Integrations: Affiliate APIs/links with eco-friendly partner platforms to connect users directly to sustainable products.

Challenges we ran into

~Integrating multiple partner websites with different structures and no standard APIs, which required building custom scrapers.

~Overcoming CORS issues while connecting the Chrome extension with the backend.

~Ensuring fast response times so that recommendations appear instantly while shopping.

~Crafting the onboarding flow to balance user experience with data collection.

~Figuring out how to position GreenSwitch for early adopters and beyond.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

~Built a working Chrome extension that integrates seamlessly with Amazon shopping flows.

~Successfully connected the backend with 7 eco-friendly platforms( 4 Indian - ReFit Global, BrownLiving, GreenFeels,KindLife 3 Global - Earthhero , Shop like you give a damn , Jungle Culture)

~Created a functional backend pipeline combining AI query refinement, scraping, and analytics tracking.

~Recently completed initial testing and received early positive feedback from users.

What we learned

~Technical: How to integrate Chrome extensions with Flask backends, manage data flows with MongoDB, and handle scraping challenges across dynamic websites.

~Product: The importance of onboarding and clear UI/UX in driving adoption.

~Go-to-market: That identifying the right audience and use case is just as important as building the product itself.

What's next for GreenSwitch

~Expanding product coverage by integrating more eco-friendly marketplaces. ~Improving personalization by using AI to tailor recommendations to individual shopping preferences. ~Running structured pilots to collect more user feedback and validate impact. ~Building an analytics dashboard that showcases individual and collective environmental impact. ~Scaling adoption through outreach to sustainability-focused communities.