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A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

jessepollak.me

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Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#111

Post by mgkimsal »

Have wrestled with the same idea and variations of it for years.

As others have pointed out, getting local businesses to use it will be problematic for a number of reasons. So, another variation would be to turn it on its head and make a 'I want something' system - something for people to signal what they're looking for - and make these requests available to any local business to watch/review and respond to. The kicker would be they'd have to respond pretty quickly.

If I'm looking for X - I may not even know exactly what X is - but I describe X as best I can - few words or exact UPC or whatever - along with my city/location/area, then start getting response/offers back to me within a few minutes. Perhaps I put a time limit on it - I need to know in the next 30 minutes. If I get, say, 3 offers back telling me store ABC has it for $y and store DEF has it for $z, I can go to either location, or contact them back and arrange a deal, or just ignore them because it's too high.

It's not the instant gratification tied with realtime inventory propose here, but it's a step in the right direction. And once you have one half built, and see the signals/searches people are putting in, you can more easily convince local retailers to participate. Perhaps they pay a subscription to review a feed, which they can tie in with automated systems, or they pay a fee on a per response basis (almost like a slowed-down turn by turn google adwords).

I'm available to talk about this idea more at mgkimsal@gmail.com if you want :)

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#115

Post by apgwoz »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

This is one of those ideas that you really have to think from both sides. On the consumer side I get this really cool App which I click "I wanna buy a foo" and Blam! every place that both sells and has a foo in stock is right there on the page. Awesomesauce! Ok now look at it from the vendor side. I'm running my store, I need to make $2500 - $25,000 a day to make payroll. I carry a bunch of products, I don't make the…

I think in general people in this thread are missing an interesting facet of this solution. Suppose that the inventory system was also a POS system (which it'd probably have to be in reality), there's opportunity there for lots of analytics that a brick and mortar store just doesn't get. And, there's even the opportunity of integrating deals for loyal customers, etc, etc.

The company providing the service could also get access to shopping records of individuals at various brick and mortars--something that probably doesn't exist, which could lead to targeted advertising on receipts (which the shop owners could take a cut of, for instance). There's lots of ways that all parties involved could benefit without killing the small businesses.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#116

Post by jps359 »

citricsquid wrote: post #66
lotharbot wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as a consumer, I wouldn't expect to use this to find out which store is a penny cheaper. If I'm going for just one item, convenience of location trumps a penny; you gotta have a substantially better price to get me to go out of my way. If I'm going for a bunch of stuff, maybe this replaces grocery ads for letting me find the best prices overall or for finding specials, but next time I'm probably shopping whe…

There are a few examples of purchasing: 1. Heading to a grocery store with a list of items that you frequently buy that are priced at similar prices at every store. 2. Going to a store to purchase a specific item 3. Going to a store to find an item For case #1 it's most likely that you're shopping at a place that is already competing for the lowest price point (places like Walmart and Target) so this application woul…

You seem to be spot on. Major outlets and retailers, like you say, already compete on items for penny differences. Nobody is going to look up on their phone that they could buy Granola bars for $.05 cheaper at Walmart than at Wegmans. The purpose of this app is convenience, however there seems to be little point to it if the concept itself is flawed for the reasons you've just stated.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#117

Post by hef19898 »

apgwoz wrote: post #115
ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

This is one of those ideas that you really have to think from both sides. On the consumer side I get this really cool App which I click "I wanna buy a foo" and Blam! every place that both sells and has a foo in stock is right there on the page. Awesomesauce! Ok now look at it from the vendor side. I'm running my store, I need to make $2500 - $25,000 a day to make payroll. I carry a bunch of products, I don't make the…

I think in general people in this thread are missing an interesting facet of this solution. Suppose that the inventory system was also a POS system (which it'd probably have to be in reality), there's opportunity there for lots of analytics that a brick and mortar store just doesn't get. And, there's even the opportunity of integrating deals for loyal customers, etc, etc. The company providing the service could also…

The system behind the app should be both. When you think of yet another groupon, you jump a little to short IMHO. But if you add POS, inventory management and a unified sales / distribution channel and provide that to local stores and shops you'l get quite a product.

But can't I stop to think of pg's frightening ambitious start-up ideas here? The odds are certainly against you, but the rewards will be equal if manage to pull that one of.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#118

Post by uptown »

lukeck wrote: post #76
fizx wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think a little, this is "OpenTable for shopping." Apparently, all the restaurants hate opentable, but they feel compelled to use it, because their competitors do.

What do they hate about it? I'm trying to "walk a mile in their shoes" as another poster put it but am coming up blank.

I'd imagine most restaurants hate it because it eats in to their profits, but from a technological standpoint, the technology on the back-end is pretty dated and not very user-friendly.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#120

Post by swirlee »

bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #106
elemeno wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that there's two things that the restaurants hate - 1) It costs them money which eats into their already thin profit margin. 2) It makes it harder to build a relationship with the customers since the customer has to opt-in to giving their e-mail address to the restaurant which they're less likely to do compared to being asked for an e-mail address if you're making a booking directly with the restaurant. Havin…

I've never seen a restaurant that takes emails, only some retail stores so they can send you low-quality newsletters.

I can think of several local restaurants and several national chains that do. In fact I'll bet most national chains do. I actually get a nontrivial amount of value out of local places' mailings, especially around my birthday when I'm in free lunches, coffees and desserts for a few weeks. Some places do send low- (or no-) signal newsletters but it's easy to unsubscribe.
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