Continuing from my last post (Musings on Innovation — part 1) I explore innovation in the most unlikely of places.
The lure of Unicorns in the past few years has unleashed a wave of stupidity and excess cash looking for the next big opportunity.
Here is one such example, I took this screenshot on my mobile / facebook.
Here person XYZ wants to move a bed from one location to another in the same city, but wants to save the cost of moving the bed with transport company. He/She asks this question on FB and someone suggests that why not list it for sale in Quikr and buy it from yourself, Quikr will transport it for you for free
Here an Indian startup http://www.quikr.com/ offers a buying and selling platform. In order to get new customers it is offering money back on delivery. This is how it works.
There is a feature called “Make an Offer” for the categories Mobiles & Tablets, Electronics & Appliances and Home & Lifestyle.
When you find your desired product in the above categories, you can “Make an Offer” by quoting the amount you want to pay for that product. Once your offer is accepted by the seller, you can make the payment online or you can opt for Cash on Delivery. You (as the buyer) can get cashback of up to Rs. 750, if you pay online, which will cover the additional cost of delivery essentially making delivery free.
The product will then be delivered to you by Quikr through its logistics partner. Only after your confirmation of the product arrival, will the money be released to the seller.
Things get interesting when the buyer and seller are the same person or family/friends and you claim the cashback.
As in the screenshot from facebook above Person XYZ wanted to.
Startups that are awash with Venture Capital cash can afford to offer such features but I am not sure how sustainable this is.
Instead of bigger companies and startups innovating, I see that customers are faster to adapt, coming up with innovate solutions and creating value for themselves.
Have you seen any such innovation around you? I would love to hear about it. Please leave a comment.
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