#cheep-cheap

Cheep-Cheap: An app for Charity Retail Stores to promote and sell products to customers using a digital marketing strategy.

This idea came to me when I was travelling to class on the bus and noticed the high amount of charity shops in Edinburgh. I like the thrill of finding something special, unique and cheap in a charity shop but I don’t have the time to endlessly rummage through other people’s cast offs. 

I have also been house hunting this year and use various websites and apps: RightMove, Zoopla and ESPC. Each has its own unique design but all share the idea of targeting the customer based on self identified criteria: location, size, price and creates alerts to new stock and prices changes. The estate agent and charity retail shop share common features: Their stock is unpredictable and dependent on what the seller/donator brings to them and potential customers could live anywhere. Charity shop customers have to go to the individual charity shop or specific online charity store to access their goods. The estate agent provides these services but also has access to a much greater potential market via the intermediary services provided by the online portals. 

Cheep-Cheap would be the Charity Shop version of Right Move et al. The customers will be able to refine their purchasing choices by various criteria: the charity they wish to support, location, gender, age, size  budget etc. The shops will be able to upload items they want to sell and these will be accessed via alerts on the app. 

Buying options could include reservation of the item for a small fee, immediate purchase, or bidding in an auction. Ideally the person could reserve the item and purchase it within a short period or lose it.

The shops will be able to get the best price for their stock, move stock quickly, and reduce costs through online retail.

People who donate items could track what they have given and get feedback on the value of their donations, prompting them to greater charity in future.

The customer will have the pleasure of getting what they want or finding a treasure through an online hunt without wasting time and energy.

The Cheap-Cheep app would be available through iOS and Android phones only. The idea of portability and immediacy are key to the unique character of this app.  I would like to explore how to connect with other forms of smart objects, e.g some charities have digital windows on their shop fronts for smart giving where customers can donate money using their phones.

Cheap-Cheep would be developed as a non-profit social enterprise app. Income to fund and maintain the app would be generated via subscription from the Charities who would pay a percentage in proportion to the volume of items sold. 

Customers would be able to earn points with specific charities that they could spend once they reached certain thresholds. They would receive positive feedback and points for every item recorded as purchased. Customers could photograph, review and upload purchases and ask for ratings from others on a Cheep-Cheap scale. Customers will gain purchase points for positive feedback from friends and for recruiting friends. 

Cheep-Cheap will be marketed via the websites of participating charities and organisations and through Twitter feed. 

Financing:  The start up and maintenance costs are likely to be high as this app will require support from a server  and frequent updating. Based on my immediate review of this area the costs will be over £10,000.

Crowd sourcing could be used to develop the design and logo ( a Magpie image is my current choice) for the app as well as app design and development but I will need to ensure that confidentiality is maintained and gain  the copyright of any work completed for me. Outsourcing is an option for app development that I will explore. As use of the app develops I would  hope that customers can engage with the content online and contribute to the information shared by the app. e.g post a photo to a shared interest group  if they see something they don’t need/want but looks interesting e.g midcentury china from Finland 

Crowd funding could be a way to get support but this might lead to others taking the idea and developing other versions of it. It would take a lot of time to raise the necessary funds.  Another  funding strategy to try would be to approach some umbrella organisations in the charity retail sector or charities directly to sound out the possibility of getting them to fund the develoment of this app. The big charities have their own websites and online shops, some use eBay to sell products. Smaller charities might be more interested in collaborating with this project. 

The name of the app Cheep-Cheap is designed to reflect the obvious association of charity shops and cheap goods, and also to create a subconscious connection with Twitter ( tweet/Cheep). I want to use an image of a bird like a Magpie or a Blackbird to emphasise the cheep factor, and because of their reputation as collectors of shiny things as well as the bird association with Twitter. 

Cheep-Cheap is easy to remember and has the potential to become a meme via Twitter or Instagram etc. I haven’t explored it yet but I want to find out if Cheep-Cheap will translate well into other languages and cultures.