Social Shopping in 140 Characters or Less
by
John McPheters
I am a problem-solver by nature, with a hyper-active entrepreneurial spirit. One recurring problem I have more often than I’d like to admit: too much stuff! Like much of New York City, I live in an apartment, and I, like everybody else, accumulate stuff. Goods, clothes, books, doodads, trinkets, tchotchkes, you name it and I have more than I need, want or even have space for. And, in speaking with my friends from all over (not just city people), everybody has issues with too much stuff and nowhere to put it–and who wants to pay for storage (for years) on things they never use and don’t really want anymore?
Many of these things would be of value to other people, and that got me thinking. What would be a good way for everybody to buy, sell or trade with their friends, and reach out to people they’ve never met before as well? To shop while making friends, two activities that have great appeal to a widespread audience, though definitely skewed at a younger demographic, where social media is the preferred way or communication.
So, we created CLDmkt. One of our main focuses with CLDmkt was to make it easy, fast and most importantly, uncomplicated to access and use. You don’t have to pay for an ad, or go through a byzantine set of instructions to post an item that you might want to #buy, #sell or #trade. Availing myself of the social media explosion that has led to widespread network building, I sought a way to monetize those networks. More specifically, Twitter.
CLDmkt was built to take advantage of the concept of “social shopping”, and we are at the forefront of that wave. To acquire or sell goods or find a particular service easily, and with the recommendation of somebody you relate to via Twitter. Not only that, but personally I would love to trade all my old stuff for new stuff, even if just for the change in scenery.
Communicating with would-be buyers, sellers and traders both inside and outside of your network is easy, without some of the hassles you might find using other services.
With social media, attention spans are quick, and CLDmkt allows people to buy, sell and trade products in 140 characters or less. Take a picture of what you are trying to move, post it, and reach out to anybody who needs what you don’t. And vice versa. All with the ease and transparency of Twitter, in whatever way you use it. No masked emails, no hidden storefronts, everything is out in plain sight, right in social. It solves a universal problem of too much stuff (or for some people, they just need different stuff!), and it has the reward of building social capital, which so many people take pride in. And CLDmkt provides a way to leverage that in a transparent way for business. Based on the response, we would have to say that it is an idea that is quite appealing, and which continues to grow as social media continues its own growth spurt at a remarkable pace.
John McPheters is an innovative entrepreneur specializing in the digital space. He created CLDmkt, a way to #buy, #sell and #trade in 140 characters or less on Twitter, to create an opportunity for people to access a necessary service quickly, easily and conveniently, while enhancing their social profile. McPheters is always looking for visionary ways to solve universal problems, with a special eye to the many untried opportunities created by a huge social media explosion on the Internet.
