May 15th, 2011



Free Business Idea: iPad Marketplace

I had this idea about 6 months ago and figured someone would have built it by now. No dice, and it’s kind of early tonight so figured I might as well detail it out.

Has anyone else noticed that eBay is absolutely killing it on mobile? Insanity.  Take a few minutes, Google around on it, and then come back and tell me that no one wants to buy stuff on their phone/tablet. Simply not true. While it’s a teeny slice of a gigantic market, that slice is going to get huge over the next 5 years. With younger demographics especially, as they spend more and more time on their phones they’ll do more than just play Angry Birds and send scandalous text messages.

But the movement of ecommerce sites to mobile/tablets is a very different story. Some of the more forward-thinking sites have HTML-5 optimized web experiences, but how many really have amazing native apps?  Gilt, eBay, maybe a few others, but honestly I don’t know of too many.  As someone familiar with the numbers of your average ecommerce operation, avoiding native apps altogether makes strategic sense.  There’s no way that Jennifer’s Jeans is going to shell out $30K or more to get a native app/tablet app made, and then have to go through the trouble of marketing the app and getting people to download it.  We’re just at the point where it’s much, much easier to get someone to visit a website than it is to get them to download an app, so your average small ecommerce business is going to stick to SEO, SEM and social media marketing – none of which really work on driving app downloads.

This then seems like a market opening – more and more people want to shop on their phones/tablets but the vast majority of businesses are not rushing to support this demand because it’s not large enough and too hurdle-rich to make strategic sense, and the real tidal-wave is probably still about 2 years away (though maybe if you started in Japan…)

Here is what I propose:  a marketplace like eBay, Etsy, Amazon Marketplace, etc. that is completely native to the mobile and tablet experience.  There are so many different things to take advantage of – the touch capabilities alone are an incredible advantage in ecommerce. So you’d really need two things:

1.  A very innovative user interface and payment system for both the tablet and the iPhone. This is an interesting discussion in itself because, although in-app purchases are amazing, any business that doesn’t make like 99% profit on each in-app purchase (yay, virtual goods) is just not going to want to take the 30% hit.

2.  An extremely user-friendly web interface where shop owners could come and upload their merchandise information, photos, etc. Bonus for plugging in to existing ecommerce databases and just pulling directly.

Coming back to Jennifer’s Jeans, now the proprietor simply has to visit the website, upload his/her merchandise and agree to hand over a percentage of each sale to your marketplace.  All of a sudden, many of the barriers are gone – the store doesn’t have to go through the trouble of making the application, and you as the marketplace would market the app, benefiting all the stores participating.

There would need to be a theme or angle to the marketplace (“homemade goods” “high fashion” “gadgets” etc.) and you’d need to get 10 forward-thinking small ecommerce businesses on board in the beginning. My guess is that business would be sort of flat for a year or two because marketing within iOS devices is pretty nascent and not the best (though getting better), but given the fast pace at which things change there will be a mobile commerce explosion very soon, maybe sooner than we think. And bonus, you are in the lucky position of not having to deal with inventory or shipping.

Maybe I am missing something, but can someone please explain to me why this hasn’t been built yet?  It’s technically non-trivial (my guess is it would take a team of 5 people probably 6 months to get a barely-working alpha ready), but the upside is compelling enough that I would think there would at least be more attempts.  Perhaps it’s that the risk of marketplace #FAIL (not the right match of buyers and sellers) mixed with the technical hurdles.

But think about it:  this is just like the early web.  People wondered if anyone would ever buy anything through the interwebs, and making an ecommerce site was a gigantic pain in the ass and then an even bigger one to get people to actually come to your site. And it happened then, so what’s preventing it from happening now within the iOS and Android ecosystems?

I say almost nothing. And for that reason, I’m excited.

Share This Post:

         
  • Guest

    The idea have been thought of but what you propose is incredibly difficult to implement given that most businesses don't have APIs or ways for people to connect with mobile i.e. no in-app purchase system, no mobile optimize version of their site. Sure putting their products into a central marketplace would solve both these problems but getting the stores to agree to push inventory data and sales through a separate channel outside of the traditional affiliate model (links) is another uphill battle of its own.

  • http://amandapeyton.com amanda peyton

    Right – but that in itself is why this is such an opportunity. If it were easy (horoscope website!) there would be tons of them. It's a nasty mix of both technical and market challenges. Though I think “more cash money/sales” has always been a fairly compelling pitch and it would be pretty easy to get ecommerce companies on board, especially if you get a really great group to start with.

  • http://bit.ly/1upgJ6 Larry M

    Check out mobify.com
    They'll take a website and optimize if for mobile. They'll do everything from content to commerce.
    The beauty is that it's basically a reskinning of the existing site. A lot less work than maintaining two sites/inventories.

  • http://amandapeyton.com amanda peyton

    Sure – mobile-optimized sites are great but your audience is the same. This provides the opportunity for a completely new audience and if there was a way to connect inventory systems it would be a no-brainer for businesses, I think.

  • http://twitter.com/peteforde Pete Forde

    Is it not just as likely that platforms like Shopify just make sure their templates are well-optimized for mobile devices?

    Ideally, the best mobile app is a well-crafted web site.

  • http://twitter.com/mkuklis Michal Kuklis

    I like your idea. I was thinking before about creating something like http://goodsie.com but for mobile platforms. I wonder if scrapping data from existing online stores which don't have api could be a part of the solution.

  • http://bit.ly/1upgJ6 Larry M

    I don't think there is any technical hurdles.  There are a lot of commerce platforms that have solid mobile offerings (shopify.com).  And most commerce platforms have hooks for inventory management.

    What you'll run into are the same branding and marketing issues for any long tail retailer.  You get buried under better known brands.  Your own site (web and mobile) would still be your best chance for conversion.  

    My analogy would be the iTunes App store itself.  There is a huge percentage of non-profitable apps – the top apps are brand names.  I'm hurting my brain, but I can't think of any brands that have been build based on a mobile start (except for mobile games)

  • http://staffpoll.com StaffPoll

    the problem with app in purchase(apple store) that its not refundable, its ok for $1-$20 items but not for others

  • Steve

    “… what’s preventing it from happening now within the iOS and Android ecosystems?”

    On Android, nothing.  On iOS, 30% Apple tax.

  • http://twitter.com/krymski Artemi Krymski

    but there are ebay and amazon apps, isn't that good enough?  marketplaces are hard, making a better UI isn't a trade-off for smaller inventory.  in-app purchases aren't allowed for real world goods, only “virtual” content that is delivered through the iPad itself.  that's why amazon uses credit cards in iOS.

    I think you'll be surprised how hard it is to create a marketplace from scratch, no matter which platfrom

  • http://www.ipad2forfree.co.uk cheesy

    probably because you need someone willing enough to build it, all large businesses started off with a few grand and a simple idea like, if i were you id go for it invest abit of time see where it takes me

  • Mememe

    what apple tax? you don't have to pay apple to have your webpage showing up on their iOS devices.

  • http://amandapeyton.com amanda peyton

    exactly – that's the point – creating marketplaces is extremely difficult, especially on a platform where there aren't many  of them and people don't immediately go to shop.  it's an uphill battle with a potentially great upside.

  • http://highexistence.com Jordan Lejuwaan

    I like how most of the opposition to this idea is the difficulty of implementation. Where's the entrepreneurial spirit?? Nothing worth creating is simple! Your idea is brilliant, Amanda. Just like a sexier, mobile-optimized, user-driven Amazon.

  • http://twitter.com/CatchDaRayz Eduardo Lopez

    Great idea, but I really can't see why eBay, Amazon, Etsy, et al. wouldn't already be developing the concept. It is easier to add tablet format to eBay than to build a tablet based competitor to eBay from scratch.

  • http://amandapeyton.com amanda peyton

    You're my fav!! Completely agree.  Anything worth doing is going to be difficult – figured that was just assumed.

  • http://highexistence.com Jordan Lejuwaan

    Haha thanks Amanda. The other part I think people are missing is that while other companies like Amazon, Ebay and Etsy COULD do this, they aren't doing it. There are tons of fantastic ideas out there ripe for larger companies to implement. Luckily for us startup-addicted entrepreneurs, they've become too big to evolve that quickly.

  • http://www.ipad2forfree.co.uk free iPad 2

    im pretty sure all companies are researching into it, its just who comes out with it, if you as a startup come out with it, it better be pretty damn good because you dont want to be outmuscled by ebays resources

  • http://www.ipad2forfree.co.uk free iPad 2

    a user friendly site and a quick navigation system always deos the trick

  • Barbaragabogrecan

    This then seems like a market opening – more and more people want to shop on their phones/tablets but the vast majority of businesses are not rushing to support this demand because it’s not large enough and too hurdle-rich to make strategic sense, and the real tidal-wave is probably still about 2 years away. There are so many different things to take advantage of – the touch capabilities alone are an incredible advantage in e commerce. So you’d really need two things: A very innovative user interface and payment system for both the tablet and the iPhone. And an extremely user-friendly web interface where shop owners could come and upload their merchandise information, photos, etc.
    work at home

  • http://www.frozenlemons.com ideas forcompany name

    Is it not just as likely that platforms like Shopify just make sure their templates are well-optimized for mobile devices?Ideally, the best mobile app is a well-crafted web site.

  • seogurusindia

    It 'just as likely that techniques such as Shopify just to make sure their designs are highly optimized for mobile devices? Ideally, the best Mobile App is a web site cleverly.
     SEO Company India

  • http://www.totallyseo.co.uk Stephanie

    Well written article.I appreciate your writing skills.Its great.I really like the concept of this post and I feel that this is a very unique and rare information that you have managed to compile.You have done a great job by sharing this post with us.I like this post.Keep sharing with us in future too.

  • http://www.brainmeasures.com/courses/Six_Sigma_Black_Belt/index.aspx?cid=2 Six Sigma Training

    Great and very descriptive tutorial given in your blog.Really very informative for those wiling to learn flash.Thanks a lot for sharing.You are doing a great job.

  • http://www.westcoastdrugs.net/ Online Pharmacy

    Very well written
    article.Thanks a lot for sharing.Keep sharing in future too.

  • http://brainmeasures.com/courses/Six_Sigma_Black_Belt/index.aspx?cid=2 Six sigma black belt

    The written skill is so good.I am very impress to this one.Thanks to share this blog with us.Keep it up.I will keep share in future.

  • http://www.seoservicescanada.ca/ seo services canada

     
    This is an
    excellent guide. Good work!

  • http://www.kenyamytrip.com/ Kenya tour

    such a great info!
    its help me a lot..thanks for sharing! keep it up ya
     

  • http://www.kenyamytrip.com/ Kenya tour

     
    You have done a
    great work really. A lots of efforts behind this.

  • http://www.seoservicescanada.ca/ www.seoservicescanada.com

    No problem.But you should maintain and update your blog now on regular basis.Well thanks for updating such.Keep sharing in future too.