October 2005 – While on a regular meandering internet session, I happened across a website offering a ‘wish list’ service. I liked the idea of offering people the chance to receive what they wanted from potential benefactors who could peruse the register. After a further trawl for similar sites (using Alexa.com) I came to the conclusion that although available, these services were under-used and under-valued. Perhaps I could develop a service, with a revenue stream that also ticked my boxes for the perfect business idea?
1, Open 24/7 (ie. online)
2, Scaleable
3, No stock or premises
4, Not content dependent
5, No/Low maintenance
Roughly speaking, the existing ‘gift list’ sites divide into three categories: Single vendor, where you create a list from one store. Multiple vendor, where you create a list from multiple stores. These sometimes use a ‘grabber’ gadget that isolates the items details and adds it your gift list. There are also sites that offer a free choice, you can add anything to your list. For these to work, your benefactor simply reserves an item and arranges the purchase or payment independently. There are no services that offer complete freedom of choice, a payment system and a choice of event attached to the list (e.g. Christmas, Birthday, Graduation).
How does this stack up against my key criteria:
1, Open 24/7 (ie. Online)
Yes. Customers could create a list at anytime. They just need a computer, modem and phoneline.
2, Scaleable
Yes. If the service is database driven, very little extra work should be necessary.
3, No stock or premises
Yes. Credit card payment and cash transfers only. There’s no stock, premises or logistics. Only server space is equired.
4, Not content dependent
Yes. Content is effectively created by the customer.
5, No/Low maintenance
Yes. The systems could be 99% automated.
Time for the work to begin.
