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Another week, another selection of interesting new business ideas from around the world: an online parking exchange working with a car-sharing service in London, bed sharing in Milan, a house checking service in Portugal, email to snail mail services from the US and Australia, and more. Our next edition is due on 2 May 2007. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Much appreciated! |
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Using Postful, anyone with access to email can send a real, paper letter to anyone with a postal address. How it works? Send an email to quickletter@postful.com, with the mailing address in the subject line, write the letter in the email's message body, click send, and the email is printed and posted. Postful does not add branding or advertising. Users can set up special email addresses for frequent contacts. Rather than typing out Aunt Kate's postal address every time, a user can create auntkate@postful.com, specifying her address, and Postful takes care of the rest. Combine that with Jott, the voice to text service we featured last week, and anyone can send a printed letter by 'jotting' a voice message. Not limited to text, letters can also include photos—view a sample letter (PDF). Pricing is simple: USD 0.99 for the first page and USD 0.25 for each additional page, which includes full-colour printing, paper, envelope and first-class postage. Currently only available in the United States, but international mailing is one of the most requested features from beta users, so Postful is hard at work to start offering that as soon as possible. The first step will be to offer international airmail service from their printers in the US, which is planned for June 2007, and the next step will be to set up international print stations. The latter would speed up delivery and lower costs; Postful's target is to reach a single flat fee for a letter sent anywhere in the world. Postful currently sends out any email entering the system within 24 hours, excluding weekends. The start-up aims to decrease turnaround time over the next months, aiming for any email received by 3 PM PST to go out as post the same day. Meanwhile, Australian L-Mail offers a very similar service, including international printing stations which are already up and running. L-Mail users can also send Braille and audio letters (the company turns an email into a recorded talking letter, which is posted by CD or cassette tape), but only prints in black and white. Sounds like something national postal companies should hurry up and partner with. And how about niche services, for small businesses, wedding planners, children's birthday parties, etc? As it's becoming harder for email to get through to readers, snail mail could see a revival. Hey, we might even start sending out Springwise newsletters to your postal address ;-) Website: www.postful.com - www.l-mail.com Spotted by: Bill McMahon
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Launched a few weeks ago, Trivop claims to be the first online hotel video portal. Using Google maps to help users find hotels, the website gives them the next best thing to visiting a hotel in person—a video walkthrough. Each video begins with some street footage near the hotel. The video camera then takes the viewer up to the entrance and into the lobby and other public spaces, and on to a room. Videos are available for each of type of room a hotel offers (standard, deluxe, junior suite, etc), including shots of the bathroom and the view through the window. No running commentary, just some fairly innocuous background music. Additional information includes the five most recent reviews on TripAdvisor, a full street address and a link to the hotel's website. French Trivop currently lists 144 hotels in Paris and 11 in London. Within a few weeks, the site will expand its reach by harnessing the power and video cameras of the masses. Travellers (and hotels) will be able to upload videos they've shot. In addition to amateur videographers, Trivop is also seeking freelance filmmakers to shoot professional videos: "Trivop is convinced that hotels must provide a video on their website. We want to open up many business opportunities for you by building the biggest community of filmmakers all around the world for the hospitality industry." About time, considering the very limited still and moving imagery most hotel websites offer. Thomas Owadenko, Trivop's founder, informs us that 500 filmmakers signed up over the past three weeks. So besides the providing travellers with previews of hotels, Trivop will also tackle the B2B side by creating videos for hotels, or brokering between hotels and freelance filmmakers. With both professional and user-submitted candid videos, the website's visitors will benefit from the same kind of transparency that candid photos on TripAdvisor offer. Sources of revenue include production fees and hosting charges for hotel-directed videos, as well as referral fees. The company will also license its catalogue to online travel agencies. Trivop's main challenge is to build content and traffic quickly, since TripAdvisor (which has 20 million unique visitors each month and is owned by Expedia), started letting users upload videos last month. Watch this space! Website: www.trivop.com Spotted by: Benoit Rigaut
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In one of the more original interpretations of the brand spaces trend, Denmark's Smukkeste Festival launched a novel concept for sleeping accommodations—oversized beer cans! The Can Sleep is a joint venture between the festival organizers and Royal Unibrew, Denmark's second largest brewery. Standing at 11.5 ft (3.75) with a diameter of 7.2 ft (2.20 m), each unit is fully furnished with a table, chairs, shelves, pegs and a mirror, all by IKEA. A ladder leads to a loft-bed that comfortably sleeps two adults and offers a skylight view. In case that's not enough for one's stargazing desires, half the roof opens right up. Each Can Sleep also features a lockable door, electric light and a can-shaped refrigerator. Reservations for the 121 Can Sleeps produced for the 2005 festival sold out in just 40 seconds over the internet. While Royal Unibrew has exclusive rights within Denmark, Can Sleep is available to other sponsors outside of the country. Each is priced at about USD 4,000 each (not including delivery charges), with a minimum order of 54 cans (9 six packs). A fresh and fun way to advertise, Can Sleep is a great example of how meeting just the right customer need with a little creativity can pay big dividends in brand recognition. We could definitely see this one popping up at big events around the world. For more examples of innovative brand spaces, ranging from Nokia's Silence Booths at music festivals to LG's wash bar in Paris, check out trendwatching.com's free briefing. Website: www.smukfest.dk/page.asp?id1=225&id2=252&id3=265&id4=0 (or tinyurl.com/22upwh) Spotted by: Jonas Hjorth
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Spotting one new business idea is good. Spotting two new business ideas working together is even better. Last month, we wrote about Peasy, an online exchange for parking spaces. A very similar British service, ParkAtMyHouse.com, also lets people rent out their private parking spaces, and recently partnered with ZipCar, a company we first featured back in 2003. With about 80,000 consumer and business drivers, ZipCar is the world's largest and fastest growing car sharing service. Founded in the United States, ZipCar recently launched in London, which will become the hub for the company's expansion into Europe. The partnership between ParkAtMyHouse and ZipCars gives ZipCars more places to park in London, and parking space owners a larger pool of potential clients. By renting to ZipCar, they'll receive their usual payment as well as GBP 85 worth of free driving credit if they sign up for ZipCar. Consumers or businesses who have a parking spot but don't own a car can monetize their parking space and have the luxury of a ZipCar parked on their doorstep, ready to use when they need it. (ZipCars cost from GBP 4.95 an hour, which covers parking, petrol, insurance, maintenance, Congestion Charge and 60 miles of driving.) At bit more about ParkAtMyHouse, which was founded by 23-year-old Anthony Eskinazi: anyone can register to rent out their parking space to consumers and businesses. Car owners can pre-book a spot daily, or one-off for a football match or a day of shopping in the city. Usually for much less than they would otherwise pay for parking. ParkAtMyHouse offers a smart search functionality. For example, typing in 'Sadler's Wells' displays all parking spaces for rent near the theatre, ordered by proximity. A quick search reveals that 311 spaces are currently available in London. Members can also put up ads for spaces wanted. Listings show the need for city parking spots, and range from "I'm a doctor at Kings Hospital and URGENTLY need a parking spot nearby - can anyone help?" to "Looking for a lockable garage or bay in secure multi-storey for a classic car." Those of you setting up an online parking exchange in your own neck of the woods, be sure to hook up with your local car sharing companies! Websites: www.parkatmyhouse.com - www.zipcar.com
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The scanners provide a running tally of how much customers are spending, so they can be mindful of their budgets. Scanners also allow Bloom to send instant messages to customers, alerting them when prescriptions have been filled or their deli orders are ready for pick-up. When they're ready to check out, shoppers simply go to any check-out lane and scan an “end of trip” barcode and the order automatically downloads to a register, so there's no need to unload and reload the cart. Which brings the average checkout time down to 32.7 seconds. (There are random checks to make sure nobody is cheating the system.) Based on nearly two years of consumer research and analysis, Bloom stores also feature customer-friendly aisle layouts, kiosks for downloading recipe ideas or learning about wine selections, 20-minute parking spots and more. There are even interactive information stations to help shoppers easily track down items on their shopping lists. Currently based on the east coast of the United States, there are 52 Bloom locations in Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina, with plans to convert and rebrand dozens more Food Lion stores. Of course, Bloom isn't the only supermarket making use of hand-held scanners and other technological advances. However, the combination of technology and implementing the industry’s best practices is something other retailers should take note of. Website: www.shopbloom.com Spotted by: Jennifer Weyand
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While home stays might have fuddy-duddy connotations of boy scout troops or travelling bible groups, the Salone del Mobile in Milan—the annual international furniture fair that ends today—would have a hard time doing anything that isn’t cool. Which includes a Bed Sharing programme that kicked off this year. The Bed Sharing project aims to show the host city's most hospitable side, and actively involves Milan residents by inviting them to open up their homes to (young) conference attendees who haven't been able to find or can't afford regular accommodation in hotels. Shared bedrooms needn’t be palatial: "2 square meters are enough to put up a designer." It's a simple way to add a personal touch and human scale to massive conferences and events, while helping local professionals expand their networks by meeting colleagues from abroad. One to set up for every major conference? Since almost everything can be arranged online, coordination costs aren't high. And given most events’ very specific target audiences, sponsors should be easy to find. (Bed Sharing’s main partners were easyJet, Samsung and Italian mattress manufacturer Ennerev.) A related organisation is SpaceShare, which we'll feature soon. Website: www.bedsharing.org Spotted by: Yasmina Haryono
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MBA-toting entrepreneurs who want to make a difference may want to look into MBAs Without Borders, a humanitarian venture that partners volunteers from around the globe with local businesses, multinational corporations and NGOs in underdeveloped nations. Similar to Doctors Without Borders and Engineers Without Borders, the idea is for professionals to invest their expertise to help in parts of the world that are not so privileged. The vision behind MBAs Without Borders is guided by their e3 principles—Enabling Private Enterprise, Educating Locals and Engaging in Local Community. Projects typically fall within five key industries: health care, agriculture, financial, income-generation and climate change. The organization so far has deployed MBAs to Mexico, Haiti, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Vietnam and Poland. Projects typically last four to six months, but some may go as long as a year or as little as one month. The organization covers costs for travel, accommodations, travel, business calls and other related expenses, and volunteers receive a generous monthly stipend of USD 1,000. More than that, they gain an invaluable experience—and one that looks great on a resume! In fact, MBAs Without Borders frequently hears from international businesses and NGOs looking to hire new talent. Founded in Canada in 2004, MBAs Without Borders hopes to expand into the United States Europe and Australia in coming years. Website: www.mbaswithoutborders.org Spotted by: Cole Denver Related: Microfinance meets mentoring
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Home buyers and sellers increasingly circumvent real estate agents by finding each other online. And while many buyers can do a very adequate job negotiating a good price, home inspection is a different matter and best left to professionals. So, who should they call? In Portugal, Checkhouse gives independent buyers confidence by extensively testing and checking a building's foundation, acoustics, wiring, roof, etc. While traditional surveyors are mainly accustomed to dealing with real estate agents and builders, Springwise believes there's a growing market for pre-sale building inspectors that focus on consumers, combing a keen eye for structural problems with a good bedside manner when it comes to telling potential buyers that their dream house is in fact a money trap. Start small, but think big: build a well-branded, nationally-known chain or network, partner with real estate sites and stay impartial by not working for construction companies. For real estate agents feeling the pinch from online listing and pricing tools, it might be time to change careers and become a home inspector. Website: www.checkhouse.pt Spotted by: Miguel Muñoz Duarte
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No worries. We've got you covered. All of last week's articles are listed below. And don't forget—you can access everything we've published in our idea database, which is conveniently organized by industry. Enjoy!
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