Last Tuesday I dragged myself out of my sick bed and off to the preview launch of the all-new
Australian Online-Retail/Social/Wishes-Fulfilment website or "social commerce marketplace"
Alphatise "Find any store or product - Alphatise". Yes I really
was ill having been mugged by a particularly nasty cold just 12 or so hours earlier but I did want to attend one of the Alphatise media-orientation sessions as the advance press release promised something very new and different "..lets consumers have a say in what they pay"!
I liked the sound of that.
One of the things I have noticed in the world of Social Media is that the programs that DO become runaway successes have something quite unique, although not always obvious, about the way they work. I tend to think about this via my own online history from pre-social-web 2.0; having my own website, to discovering the sharing and
truly social aspects of
Flickr; then onto Facebook (that took a while, why would I need it..), of course Blogging as well, and if you Blog (or even if you don't) you will be needing a Twitter account, then Tumbler (well maybe not), Pintrest, Instagram - boy I left that one too late perhaps.. and now I have social media sharing buttons
ON my website; oh how the world has changed and it just keeps on changing.
Every Social Media Site that succeeds has something maybe just a little different on the surface about it; but when you begin using it, then reveals that small difference to be all-the-difference-in-the-world! What if Flickr had discovered the #Tag before Instagram? Would we be be looking at a different Social Universe? Too late now! Every successful social tool occupies a unique networking position in the Social Networking Universe.
All of which brings me back to Alphatise a new retail platform that seems to encompass not one but a number of unique web positions; the most unique may well turn out to be the ability to
BREAK the unbreakable social code of LIKES. In a nutshell the site is a space that connects Buyers with Sellers (nothing new there) by creating an open and scalable fulfilment -
Wishes channel. You join the site, you find a product or store; by using the 'unique' sliding scale
YOU choose how much you would like to pay. OK, that's the consumer end of the fulfilment pipe. On the other end are retailers and manufactures of the products you
Wish you could own. Between you both is the Alphatise Social Engine connecting and
OPENLY showing all the Wishes (Likes) that a product has and enabling cross-sharing of accepted offers. It's this sliding scale of payment attached to a highly visible-social-likes/wishes core that
should breath some serious life into the Alphatise business model.
If as I think is the plan, Alphatise wants to have pretty much everything your heart desires on the site
and a
HUGE user base, then the desires of marketers for real-world online consumer metrics should be satisfied to a previously unprecedented level as should the desire of consumers for the best possible deal. There is certainly a lot more going on than just connecting consumers with sellers. The projected product numbers goal for items on the site were I believe (I had a cold and it was a week ago) were around 100 000 000, going to 400 000 000 over time; now that is a lot of items requiring a lot of connectivity but then we do buy an awful lot of stuff..
Of course there are issues that will need addressing or ironing out along the way such as shipping, that pesky expense that can kill a discount unless shipping is free or under the cost of the discount. The authentic nature of items if you are shopping for a Brand item but not always through the Brands Store.. I am sure the people at Alphatise are already addressing these issues including the
STILL one week later lack of an Android App! Disturbingly I was told at the launch that Australia was mostly using iPhones; which was news to me as
iOS has only about 35% of the Australian market, I would love to know where that advice came from. My advice to Alphatise is get the Android App up as quick as you can; even with what looks like a great product that could become a market leader; you don't want to leave well over half your market out of the picture.
Now where's some Johnnie Black Label for $38.00 a bottle and what do you mean "it is uncertain that you will get your wish"!
At the end of the day that Social Engine may just be the Golden Fleece of consumer information..
Via Patty Huntington - Fellt Industry..
"We’ve challenged most of our clients, saying, ‘When you’ve worked out how many ‘Likes’ make a sale, we’ll be happy to put it in the metrics of measurement’. Nobody actually knows" - Steve Allen, Fusion Strategy.
http://fellt.com/industry/2014/07/the-analyst-steve-allen-fusion-strategy
https://www.alphatise.com/ Kent Johnson
0433 796 863
