Imagine a way to centrally manage the way you get and accept quotes from suppliers. Imagine a way for businesses to come to you, rather than you going out individually to each of them. That’s what PickAQuote.com.au tries to address with its online service offering.

I’ve sat down with Marcus Lim, the co-founder of PickAQuote.com.au, based in Sydney Australia. The guys at PickAQuote are building a central on-line marketplace to streamline the supplier quotation process. Their business model is relatively simple:

1. Consumers post their requests on-line for free
2. Competitive quotes come in
3. The consumer picks the best quote available

Revenues come from quotation fees (when a business responds to a job with a formal quote) as well as success fees (when the business is accepted for a job). Customers may also receive some ‘kick-back’ revenue ($10) for each successful referral made, as well as $5 for every job completed.

There is certainly great potential for this organisation to be a successful – the real questions to address are how to achieve critical mass (for both supply and demand), how to leverage economies of scale, as well as how to market an on-line product to a typically off-line activity.

PickAQuote has been actively marketing on national radio channels, and have been mentioned on prominent newspapers in Australia. Given such media coverage, the direction this business is heading is one of many examples of an innovative Aussie start-up aiming to disrupt the status quo. Expect to see more innovative Asia Pacific start-up / business model examples on this blog in the future.

The online retail and shopping market in Egypt epitomizes the regional trend. According to a Nielsen study in 2009, only 2% of Internet users in Egypt purchased something online at that time. In an earlier post, we covered Tazkarty, a one-stop-shop, hassle-free online booking system for all social events, restaurants, discos, etc.

The ingenuity of group offerings combined with an Arab-ization of a commonly used English term “offer” resulted in “Offerna” (“our offer”), which stands for a group discount from local vendors if enough number of interested people sign up for it.  Once enough people show interest, the offer goes live and all signed-up people are then able to redeem their e-vouchers until the announced deadline or if it sells out. If not enough are interested, all signed-up people get their money back.

Offerna is the first and so far most successful of group buying sites in Egypt, leaving behind bigger players such as GoNabit.com and Cobone.com. Launched in March 2011, Offerna became a big hit very quickly, featuring deals from Egypt’s top retailers, restaurants, and service providers. Two weeks after starting an intensive marketing campaign, Offerna’s Facebook page attracted some 17,000 fans (and more than 171,000 as of October 3, 2011), according to one of the co-founders. When the website finally launched, Offerna was receiving an average of 50 requests per e-voucher.

Anything from an Italian ice-cream to car-care services delivered to your home can be found on Offerna. Previous offers – now sold out – included  50% discounts on premium accessories from Kipling, 70% on sushi from Itsumi, and a romantic night cruise of the Nile on a yacht with more than 50% discount. E-vouchers that sell out the fastest are either food/beverage or clothing deals.

And just like Tazkarty, Offerna caters to Egyptian online customers. As many online customers in Egypt either do not have or are wary of sharing credit card details online due to security reasons, these customers are sceptical and prefer to pay cash upon delivery (for an additional 10 EGP).

Another edge (to which its relatively fast-achieved success might be attributed) of Offerna, as compared to its local and regional rivals, is the fact that it is available both in Arabic and English. Currently, e-vouchers are retail only, but Offerna plans to include group deals on furniture, gadgets, etc. Offerna’s other plans include its expansion (from its base of Cairo/Alexandria) to the rest of MENA, starting with Saudi Arabia and launching a mobile applications for iPhone, Blackberry and Android smart phones. At this moment, Offerna is privately funded.

UPDATE (10.10.2011): Ideavelopers, venture capital arm of EFG-Hermes (the largest investment bank in MENA), responsible for managing Technology Development Fund (TDF), has concluded (as of 09.10.2011) a Series A investment round in Offerna.

While still quite behind the number of Western online shoppers (for example, in the UK 62% of internet users shop online), the recent survey of internet usage in the MENA region – conducted by Effective Measure and SpotOnPR with about 7,000 MENA internet users – has shown that three in ten purchase goods and services online. While the percentage might be low, the same survey claims, 32%-and-growing number of internet users, it still amounts to a market of more than 20 million online shoppers across the Arab world.

The rise of online shopping in MENA, and in Egypt in particular, is paralleled with all sorts of entertainment activities, meetups, concerts, receptions. But as residents or even tourists in Cairo – to take the Egyptian case – know, it’s often impossible or very hard to get into a trendy/nice club/disco or make reservation on a pre-weekend evening, unless one knows (has a telephone number of) the club’s owner or has a habit of tipping bouncers at the door.

Addressing a growing need provided by the growing volume of online booking/shopping among Egyptian users and the need for hassle-free, rapid and reliable booking, Tazkarty jumps in. It is fresh and juicy and does what is says – the word ”Tazkarty” means “my ticket” – by offering online tickets.

In an increasingly crowded online retail and shopping market in Egypt, featuring regional heavyweights such as the first group-buying site in the Arab world gonabit.com and local varieties including Egypt’s first online retailer e3050.com, the hybrid (print and online) specialized coupon outlet offers-plus.com, and quite successful Egyptian group-buying site darendeal.com, Tazkarty seems to have found itself a growing niche. Indeed, Tazkarty claims to be Egypt’s biggest and easiest-to-use online retailer for ticketed events and occasions. Using Tazkarty, you can book a table, spot or table in an event or location, be it a club, restaurant, party, cinema, or a hotel. Emulating websites such as Ticketsmarche.com, Tazkarty aims to be a one-stop-shop for people who want to avoid hassle and hurdles related to any organizational matter in Egypt.

Launched in 2009, Tazkarty, in addition to the standard expected (from that sort of a service) functionality of filling out an online reservation form, shows some innovative and fit-to-the-market mentality. To begin with, you can call their hotline number for online reservation. Whether a reservation is made via an online form or telephone, a Tazkarty customer service rep will contact you by email (or even call you) to confirm your booking.

With the well-known and established distrust of using credit cards in the MENA region, Tazkarty, like some other innovative regional firms, accept cash-on-delivery option of booked tickets “straight to your door”. Lastly, and yet another step towards satisfying even the most picky and ambitious, Tazkarty has partnership agreements with few firms where one can pass, show the email confirmation and pick the ticket from. Those, until now, include Diwan bookstore chain outlets in Cairo and Alexandria, as well as the Buddha Bar in Sofitel Cairo hotel and a couple of Mojo lounges around Cairo.

Not the least is that Tazkarty regularly reviews and ranks outlets and events listed on its website and filtering them out. Catering to international users, Tazkarty functions as a hybrid agence de voyage by having a dedicated team that helps to plan and book any event or activity on its website, ensuring a memorable trip to and activities in Egypt.

Thinking like a professional chess player, Tazkarty has now two sister websites, cairoscene.com and cairozoom.com. The former, cairoscene.com, is a “city calendar” with up-to-date information on locations, timing and other details of activities/events in Cairo, from parties to concerts to cultural events. The latter, cairozoom.com, is a community photography website where users upload photos from attended events concerts and parties, sharing opinions and experiences.

To its growing portfolio of services, Tazkarty plans to add discussion forums, an events blog for people to critically comment on parties and events, a shout box for people to post information and opinions, and, last but not least, a Blackberry mobile application. Its business model, while locally quite appealing, mainly generates revenues via online advertising on its own (and sister) websites.

With over 80 million inhabitants, Egypt is a hub, junction of many cultures, ethnicities and nationalities. In 2011, alongside other countries in the rebelling against their corrupt and dictatorial governments, Egypt underwent a shock-wave change starting from January 25th during which Egyptians of all age – especially the Egyptian youth – turned from passive, malcontent mass of citizens into a proactive, dynamic and self-organizing group demanding, amongst others, their human rights, gender equality and other democracy-pertaining changes.

Despite its recent history, however, Egypt like many countries in the region, has not been immune to the discriminatory attitude towards women, Egyptians and foreigners alike. In downtown Cairo as well as on its outskirts, women attract attention of passing-by men as well those who are on streets by virtue of their work or by sheer idleness – the latter is significant. It is not only stares or casual comments about a woman’s appearance that one might get, sometimes verbal abuse might follow or, in some extreme cases, physical contact. In one word, harassment is a part of daily routine and life of many women in Egypt. According to a research by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR), 83% of Egyptian and 98% of foreign women are subject to harassment in Egypt at least once per day.

Out of this pressing need and to bring a certain equality of treatment and rights, an innovative grassroots initiative, HarassMap, has grown. HarassMap launched in 2010 and currently has more than 300 volunteers all over Egypt to raise awareness and sensitivize communities. HarassMap is a system that allows reporting sexual harassment incidents via the Internet or SMS anonymously. Once a harassment case is reported, the system proceeds by mapping these reports online, exposing the location of incident, nature of harassment and other relevant information publically on its website, to partner NGOs and media agencies. In addition to exposing harassment cases and relevant information publically, HarassMap also offers lists of services (how to make a police report, legal and psychological help, self-defense, etc.) necessary to tackle each harassment case. It also hopes to coordinate with local police authorities, providing them with the latest harassment locations. Lastly, in its effort to tie all harassment-related movements together, HarassMap will initiate, strengthen and influence dialogue between relevant NGOs (NGO Task Force on Sexual Harassment), institutions (ECWR, UNFPA, ILO, NCW) and ministries (Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism).

Considering that Egypt currently has about 55 million mobile subscribers (of which 35%-50% are women) and a 10% annual growth in mobile subscription, HarassMap leverages mobile technology by utilizing messaging services FrontlineSMS and the Ushahidi Engine. Since October of 2010, HarassMap has had over 300 reports of street harassment, unwanted phone calls and other forms of harassment intended to intimidate women and keep them from participating in social activities. Its deployment was able to track a significant drop in harassment during the January revolution’s 18 days of street protests, and also the outpouring of support for CBS News correspondent Lara Logan after her brutal rape and assault on February 11.

Despite its relative novelty, HarassMap proved to be a significant success, with a growing number of requests from groups in other countries to implement the HarassMap platform in their respective countries. While its services are free of charge – and no plans to introduce any specific revenue models – HarassMap’s operational expenses are covered entirely by contributions from its volunteers and activists both in terms of money and time. Even the SMS service proceeds are going to corresponding mobile operators, without any share of it being taken by HarassMap. HarassMap is hoping that, in the near future, its operational and other expenses are covered with a combination of grants and partner sponsorship deals.

“The Internet evolves towards being the centre of our lives. How will this change the way we will work, play, dream in the future? Where is the Internet going and how will it affect society?”

Those triggering words made us decide that we couldn’t possibly miss this unique Conference in the Old Fishing Mine ( a unique location by the way) in Ghent. And indeed, a hit it was! Vincent Van Quickenborne, Steve Clayton, James Bridle, even Gary f*cking Vaynerchuk (he would be honoured by the name, trust me),… Are you already getting jealous?

I could easily summarize the entire conference, but off course that wouldn’t be fair, since I paid thousands of euro’s to get in. And maybe there could pop up this thing called copyrighting and then we could get sued… ☺

But no, there are three things that I can give away:
1. CARE about your customers (sincerely)
2. Twitter is not about talking, it’s about listening.
Think about that!
3. And last but not least: an exclusive interview I had with one of the keynote speakers: James Bridle.

He describes himself as an editor, publisher, writer, consultant, producer, programmer, designer and cook. Sometimes. Buy when I kicked off my interview using the word ‘writer’, he told me that he does see himself much more as a publisher than writer. Well, I considered that, as being a publisher, James would probably have already had several sleepless nights because of all the alarming changes that are taking place in his sector. But surprisingly enough, the opposite seemed to be true. James strongly believes that it’s all about making things, instead of talking about it. It’s about creating experience. And that’s what a book does to you, right? And a book is a double experience: you have the content and the physical touch of the book itself. The industry should recognize that it produces more than just content. He also suggests that writing for different media requires different types of writing and experience.

When I asked him how he thinks he is going to make money within a few years, he simply declared that publishers will always be able to make money, since people still want to read. People read more than they have ever done before, so finding a unique business model to stand out will be crucial.

I wondered whether he’s afraid from Apple and Google… Well, he didn’t seem to be at all! He committed that those two giants also give an experience and create things but not as such that publishers should be afraid. Embrace it, because you can’t escape it. James was radical about the role of the government: intervention is only allowed when it comes down to copyright. But for the rest, they lock down culture. The importance of advertising on the other hand, is a massive opportunity publishers have to discover, transform and use in their own advantage. But it’s going to take some time before they’ll succeed.

So I recapitulate:
People are willing to pay for good content, a unique experience, availability and access.

So where is all the fuzz about anyway?

When new technology develops, the first business models seem to imitate the old technology experience within the new medium. As the new industry matures and the new medium is better understood, new business models emerge, often led by smaller startups.

For example, the online advertising models in the late 90’s and early 00’s replicated the existing passive advertising model of paying for ‘eyeballs’ or ad views. CPM (cost per thousand impressions, modelled after the print/TV advertising industry) eventually became CPC (cost per click, the model of Google and affiliate advertising) after the industry realised that ad performance could be tracked via clicks. This was a new tool that couldn’t be used in offline media, but revolutionised online advertising.

In the present and upcoming decades, similar shifts will happen with the rise of new devices, the omnipresence of the web, and the emphasis on social networks, providing new opportunities for startups. Below are five newly available tools that can drive future business models:

1. Consumers will pay for content – A decade ago media companies thought that consumers would never pay for online content, but the rise of app sales, in-app sales, ebook downloads, and crowdfunding models have proven them wrong. Today, 38% of iPhone owners say they would pay for magazines which you can read on a PC or portable device, compared to 29% of the general population. Consumer-paying models allow startups greater flexibility in pricing and business models, because revenue can come from the mix of advertisers, product providers, and consumers. In difficult times and as the business progresses, pricing to different parties can adjust.

2. People spend more when it’s not ‘real money’ – If startups can separate the payment and the transaction, for instance through upfront fees in exchange for credits that can be used for other items, people will likely spend more. Similarly, if a subscription model has inclusive benefits, people are more likely to view these as ‘freebies’. This also can allow the startup to reward its users through credits/currencies that are likely to stay within the system. For game developers, Facebook credits generate higher total revenues per user compared to games that use traditional currencies.

3. Startups can piggy-back off of existing business models – Some startups have found ways to create micro-models that utilise existing business models of established players, particularly in commodities that can be enhanced with additional services. The benefits of this include being able to brand and manage the network and interactions that occur inside of it. It also provides opportunities for startups to offer established players partnerships, sponsorships, and analytics in exchange for greater access to a model they are implicitly supporting. VOIP companies like Skype and iCall do this by using the existing WiFi and mobile infrastructure to lower the cost of long-distance calls for consumers.

4. White-labelled products can extend reach for established brands while driving user adoption for startups – Larger companies often struggle to identify how to participate in new technologies. For corporates, developing new business units and products in-house is expensive, time consuming, and risky. Startups can extend the reach of the brand into new technologies by designing products with the ‘look and feel’ of a brand, capitalising on the brand’s existing relationship with consumers to drive user adoption. This must go beyond commodity services like designing the social media page for a brand, to more unique products and services that the brand can use to compete effectively. An iPhone app by Remote Control Productions and RjDJ for the movie Inception reached 1m users in 1 week.

5. Network distribution effects can drive the ‘J-Curve’ – Winning in ‘stickiness’, ‘viral marketing’, or ‘2-sided markets’ creates the virtual cycle of the more you have the more you grow. This applies to social platforms, games, content, etc., and is the magic formula that creates the J-curve. GroupOn’s rapid success was a function of building several network distribution effects into its business model early on, including:

• Capitalising on the ‘addictive’ elements of consumer behaviour, such as limited offers, exclusivity, group belonging, identity/ personal beliefs, personalisation, the free-gift syndrome, prior agreement to do something
• Aggressively targeting adoption of one side of the 2-sided market, like exclusive relationships or deep discounts with category leaders
• Making your product enhance existing social interactions (e.g. payments, organising events), or making existing social interactions improve your product (e.g. sharable photo albums)

Picture by {Flixelpix} David (flickr)

Newgrape is currently running a funding campaign through Kickstarter.com to launch a beta version Jan-Feb in the new year. The platform is nearly ready after an intensive development period of 1 year, including a proprietary Advertising system. Newgrape is going for an Advertising business model (80%) + a Premium model (20%). The premium model is only for professional users that want extra features, as indicated in the visual business model above. They also intend to integrate Flattr into the platform, which will bring direct financial benefit to authors, but not to Newsgrape as a business. I think there is certainly potential for publishing initiatives that put authors central, and let readers plug-and-play with their own magazines and authors they want to read. I am unsure if Newsgrape will be an instant success, but I like the direction in which it is going.

How does auctioning exposure work at Auction4Tweets? Let’s say I want to reach@nickdemey’s followers on twitter. @nickdemey can auction a tweet to his followers (exposure) for which I can bid together with everyone else. Let’s assume I have the winning bid offering @nickdemey 1000 points. My tweet is then sent to his followers, and @nickdemey gets 1000 points which he can cash for $2. Points are the system’s virtual currency. As you can buy 400 points for $1, yet need 500 points to cash $1, Auction4Tweets seems to take a commission of 20% on each sell (and the remainder of the money which is never cashed out of the virtual currency system). Auction4Tweets launched only yesterday, and probably won’t be the next big thing. On the other hand it’s another experiment in the interesting field of selling attention and exposure.

Attention auctions aren’t new. We see them in a variety of industries. But somehow paying for attention feels unethical. In the start-up scene for instance young entrepreneurs pay big loads of money for a few minutes of attention of busy VC’s. This activity, paying to pitch for investors, receives lots of critique these days. But in the end, attention selling in times of information overload remains a ‘good’ business concept. On the other hand, MyAttn.com isn’t the best format to do so.