We all have seen those city centers and shopping areas dominated by large retail and food chains looking identical and offering a similar shopping experience. A1 locations are often too expensive for small, local (and starting) businesses so they will have to settle for lower traffic locations, missing out on impulse purchases, turnover and facing increased stock risk. A situation which is hard to concur.
Now there is Dloky, a worldwide platform with millions of users and visitors and already more than half a million businesses. Dloky offers the latest deals and actions of retail and hospitality businesses in the user’s direct vicinity, based on real-time or planned GPS position.
Dozens of categories and subcategories can be selected such as women’s or men’s fashion, cosmetics, sports, shoes, restaurants, museums and nightlife. The user can select the desired search distance and sort on distance or date. A sort on local businesses is currently in development to favor local businesses due to user’s demand.
Webapp (or ‘Progressive Web APP’ / PWA), Polymer, Firebase
Managing Director Robert Hoevers; “we have begun as native mobile app but since the launch of our Dloky webapp (a website looking and ‘feeling’ like an app on mobile), traffic really began to take off. Shops, businesses and promotions now have their own Dloky page and will be indexed on Google as well using our state-of-the-art, super-fast PWA and making use of instant loading ‘Accelerated Mobile Pages’ (AMP’s) as well. The webapp uses Google’s new Polymer framework and is hosted on Google’s Firebase CDN (Content Distribution Network) platform so the small businesses that sign up can make use of the latest mobile technologies through the Dloky platform”.
‘But I already have a Facebook business page’ is a common reaction. Robert Hoevers; “Of course and I would advise any (starting) local business to setup a page. However, it is very hard to increase the organic reach of a local business page beyond friends, family and regular customers who like to follow your business. There are not many people who like to follow all the shops on Facebook where they come. Moreover, as a local business you particularly want to reach the tourists, travelers and visitors that don’t even know your business. Dloky works the other way around, you initially see all the places around you and hide the ones you are not interested in. Dloky will remember your settings across your browsers and devices”.
Business model
“If Dloky is free for all businesses and consumers, what is the business model?” is a frequently asked question. Robert Hoevers; “We are currently developing the first payment option, the ‘Google Adwords type’ advertising model is a logical solution where a business could have a paid promotion on top of the results page of a category in a certain location. But also cashback, discount or savings programs are being considered”. However, Dloky will always be free for users as well as businesses. Setting up a Dloky business page is a matter of minutes with the easy Facebook Sync option.
Dloky hopes to contribute to a more diverse retail experience in cities, malls and shopping areas and to help small retail business to compete making maximum use of digital marketing strategies. Dloky believes that the physical shopping experience will transform more and more towards an experience of true consumer involvement, discovery, engagement, activity, authenticity and adventure. Dloky hopes to contribute towards this transformation and experience, both for consumer and business.
https://dloky.com
Dloky Video; 