Think about being paid to shop. Yes, you heard it right. For some, this idea seems far-fetched, or might I daresay, bizarre. After all, the purpose of shopping is to have people spend money, not earn it, however, Shping (short for shopping,) is a blockchain inspired ecosystem that is changing the world of shopping and marketing by doing this.
Via their shopper marketing platform, Shping, which operates out of Melbourne, Australia, provides “product brands and retailers with the opportunity to promote to, and reward shoppers with Shping Coin for learning about their products before purchase.”
To participate in this revolution, one simply has to download the Shping app and use it to scan bar-codes so as to receive information about a particular product. It pretty much works like a search engine, however, one that is geared towards products.
Video Summary
The Shping Solution
As it is now, businesses advertise using large online entities like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and other middlemen billions to promote their products. Unfortunately, many businesses are missing out on valuable revenue because they do not have direct access to the retail end of the market, “where almost 90% of purchases take place.” Shping is solving this problem by creating a shopper marketing ecosystem where brands can circumvent the middlemen and advertise directly to consumers.
On the consumer end; if one listens and watches an advertisement before buying a product, they can earn Shping coins. Remember, one of the biggest problems facing the industry is brand recognition. Given that the cost of each Shping token is $0.01, the small business who cannot afford to pay, for example, YouTube, to advertise is able to take advantage of the 10 billion available Shping coins to promote his/her product.
How will this change the Industry
What Shping is doing goes beyond merely rewarding people to give good reviews or for doing surveys. Take food labeling for instance. The growth in the global marketplace means our food is coming from places some of us might not even know. The answers to the questions of; what is in it? Where is it coming from? How was it produced? Or simply, is it safe for me? Are questions we are never really sure about.
The Shping app has solved this problem, as they are already working with (among other) GS1; the company that is tasked with maintaining barcode standards globally. This means that the customer is assured that he/she will get accurate information on a product by simply scanning it.
Safe and Secure
With the shopping and retail industry estimated to be worth $USD28 trillion globally by 2020, Shping is taking no chances. This is why it has been built on one of the most secure ecosystems on the blockchain, ethereum. The choice between human error and smart contracts is a no-brainer, hence, the customer can rest assure that their wallet is safe from hackers.
Team
Headed by the inimitable CEO Gennady Volchek, the Shping team, is truly an all-star one. Volchek has been working in technology for over two decades “including building one of the world’s first voice over IP networks.” Shping also counts “Everledger’s , Leanne Kemp and Chronobank’s Sergey Segienko amongst its advisors.”
Additional Resources
https://tokensale.shping.com
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IBL_MuniJb8Y6nqFXW05pRPMmkL_FXvI/view
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQ9aka_nNRI4NylV64O6AA
https://tokensale.shping.com/whitepaper.html
https://twitter.com/shpingapp
https://t.me/ShpingCommunity
https://www.facebook.com/shpingapp/
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