Online Bartering

Bartering is the oldest form of trade. Today it is mainly used by organizations but the main problem is that it is difficult to find trading partners. With the help of the Internet, matches can be done faster today. The kinds of items that are traded include office space, banner ads, storage and idle facilities.

E-bartering is usually done in a bartering exchange where there is an intermediary that makes the transactions possible. Some of the websites where bartering can be done are: barterourservices.com, barterwww.com, and barterdepot.com. The company makes an evaluation of the item that you want to barter and gives you points according to the item’s value that can be used to buy another item.

A famous example of e-bartering is the red paper clip story. Kyle MacDonald told people that he could trade a paper clip for something more valuable but no one believed him. His goal was to accomplish this in one year and he succeeded. Kyle got the idea to this from a childhood game called bigger and better, but he chose to do the trade on the Internet this time. In two days he traded the paper clip on craigslist.com for a fish shaped pen.  He then traded it for a doorknob with a smiley face until he obtained a camping stove. He then created a website called oneredpaperclip.com where he got more offers. He used some advertising until he got a snowmobile.  14 trades later he got a house in Saskatchewan. Today the website is used to advertise swapping.

UPcload: Clothing Size Profiling

 UPcload will change the way people buy clothes online with its new body measurement technology. The only thing customers need is a webcam and the UPcload software will give them their exact body dimensions such as arm length and chest circumference. Customers only need to measure themselves with the webcam once and they will obtain a profile that can be used in all the online stores within the UPcload network. After obtaining their UPcload profile they can shop directly at the online stores within the network and the profile will be transferred automatically to the store. This service is free for customers and the shops pay for the usage themselves. UPcload is responsible of matching the body measurements with the clothing sizes taking into consideration the textile material.

UPcload was created in Germany by Asaf Moses and Sebastian Schulze in 2010. They noticed that the online clothing market was booming but there was a major problem that was leaving many customers unsatisfied. They realized that almost every second item purchases were returned to the retailer. Most of the time these returns were due to a sizing problem and customers only realized this once they had tried the clothing at home.

It was challenging to create this software because it is completely new. Upcload has strategic development partnerships with Israeli software developers specialized in object recognition and segmentation. The UPcload network is still in the developing process and the service should be available at more stores during this year. It is currently being tested with The North Face.

Tesco: Subway Virtual Grocery Stores

Tesco is one of the leading international grocery retailers with operations in 14 countries including Europe, Asia and North America. It is Headquartered in the UK and it employs 492, 174 people. 

Tesco wanted to increase its market share and become the number one retailer in the Korean market through its korean retail brand called market plus. Korea is the second hard-working country in the world where people dread to grocery shop. Tesco saw this as an opportunity to completely redesign the grocery shopping experience. Through its Home Plus retail brand, it created a virtual grocery shopping experience in subways and other public places. The walls of subway stations were turned into virtual store displays that looked exactly like a real aisle of a grocery store. The only difference was that people purchased the products through their mobile phones. Each item on the virtual display had a QR code that could be scanned with a smartphone to be purchased and then delivered at the customers' doors few hours later. 

Tesco's innovative idea became very convenient for people who commute very often and do not have time to shop. They can quickly scan the items they need while they wait in the subway station. The new innovation increased sales dramatically by 130 % from November 2010 to January 2011. The new virtual store will not substitute traditional grocery stores, but this is another distribution channel that will help increase sales. It is not clear yet whether this innovation would be as successful in other countries such as the United States. It was mentioned in other blogs that due to the high rates of vandalism in the United States this distribution would not be effective. However, I think that in some cities and maybe in certain metro stations where vandalism rates are lower, Tesco's virtual stores could be a successful distribution channel. 

http://www.sumoheavy.com/category/innovation/

http://www.emarketer.com