Greater 'Share' Empowers C2C Markets--and possibly, The New Capitalism. (Q&A with GoodStorm)

In this segment I'm speaking with Andrew Hoppin, director of business development for GoodStorm, a progressive e-commerce company launched in January to dramatically increase profit margins...for the little guy. Listen up marketers: a lot of little guys are making for one BIG market.

Since the dot-bust a raft of regulations have been pushing transparency, accountability and social responsibility. But what hasn't been addressed is the core issue with the economic model itself (read: too many people on the low-end of the profit scale).

Enter GoodStorm's fair-economics model, coined "Capitalism Done Right", emphasizing more share in profit-sharing programs. According to Hoppin, "We've explicitly built our business model such that we only do well when we're also doing a lot of good for other people. That's what we call 'Capitalism Done Right'."

So what does more sharing really equate to? A lot. Take MarketSpace, the company's service for setting up online stores. It's much like Cafe Press except sellers receive much more profit--up to 70% of profit on every sale, instead of only 20% to 30%. Or MeCommerce, the company's innovative product-serving technology for selling items like CDs and DVDs; it's akin to other affiliate programs except sellers receive 50% of profits from each purchase instead of just 4% - 8.5%.

A veteran to both the blogging and political communities, Hoppin managed the "Clark for President" campaign's voter data and open-source software volunteer program and directed business strategy for CivicSpace, the online advocacy software platform borne out of Howard Dean's Presidential campaign. Remarking on the intersection of politics and business, Andrew explains, "The foundation of authentic caring and hubris to believe we can change things for the better maps extremely well to a C2C business world."

Andrew illuminates how fair-economic models empower C2C markets--and how sharing the wealth makes for mighty good marketing practices. Here's the Q&A (and a link to a special podcast):

What is the premise behind "Capitalism Done Right"? The premise is that we're moving towards a people-powered society in which we're all creators and producers as much as we are consumers. There is no "us" and "them" in this paradigm, and fairness is paramount. At GoodStorm, we're doing our part to facilitate this evolution towards people-power by giving people the tools they need to earn meaningful incomes online, and we're making sure that our customers (we call them partners) always make more than we do.

How is GoodStorm empowering the C2C marketplace? We provide tools and services that do the heavy lifting of e-Commerce and merchandising. And we handle the technically difficult and capital-intensive aspects of this business on behalf of our partners so that they can focus on what they're good at: executing on their mission. We're dramatically lowering the barriers to entry for any individual or organization with a large online presence to be their own Amazon or eBay under their own brand with full control over their own customer relationships--and we're dramatically increasing the profit potential, to boot.

What potential does C2C hold for businesses? What changes in mindset and approach do marketers need to employ in engaging this new audience? C2C allows businesses to engage in values-driven commerce, rather than value-driven commerce. If the products you create and sell are tightly bound to the mission, brand and work of your organization--and if you sell these products directly to your customers under your own brand--then the perceived value of these products to your customer increases, and the price sensitivity of your customer decreases.

Whether or not the product you are selling is unique, buying from YOU, as versus buying from a price-comparison engine--becomes part of the value of the product and gives you pricing power. Consider the prices people will pay at the corner store versus WalMart. Or consider Girl Scout Cookies...have you ever asked the Girl Scouts for a discount?

How has your work in the political arena benefited you in the business sector? Politics is the ultimate authentically values-driven endeavor. Just as I've been engaged in causing political transformation towards a more people-powered politics in this country, I'm now engaged in helping transform commerce to a more creative producer-centric mode. At a more mundane level, you meet a lot of people in politics and from all walks of life. The rolodex gets pretty thick pretty quickly, and many of the relationships therein are predicated on a lot of shared blood, sweat and toil, so they're strong relationships. That's a great foundation for going into business together.

The 2004 election marked real growth for the blogger community. What lessons can marketers take away from your experience in the political arena? Two lessons. One, you'd better innovate and take major risks if you want to exceed what is predictable. How else does a dark horse candidate, or company, win? And two, there is immense power in empowering people and in altruism--you get back what you put in 1000-fold; the corollary to this is that if you're predicating your business (or your campaign) on being better funded or on blocking competitors with proprietary intellectual property, you're going to be in a very precarious position relative to a competitor that operates in a more open, collaborative fashion.

End note: While this segment focused on the C2C market and GoodStorm's economic model, you'll likely be hearing a lot of buzz around MeCommerce. The product-serving technology enables Web publishers, bloggers and organizations to sell products ranging books, CDs, computer games and DVDs from within a widget--so users are never removed from their sites when making a sale.

The transactions garner sellers 50% of the profit from each sale, instead of a paltry figure equating to less than 10%. Now that's profit-sharing with a lot of share. To learn more, check out the company's blog--or listen to Karl Long's podcast with GoodStorm's CEO Yobie Benjamin.

Comments? Post 'em! Ideas for an upcoming segment? Send 'em on!  Access all interview segments here. For info. on this series: go here.

Comments

[Neil Vineberg]

CK, Bravo!

What is terrific about your approach to each of your blogposts is that you're not only featuring thoughtful speakers, you're actually clearly highlighting and articulating their key lessons --- like universal marketing truths...the epiphanies ('aha' moments) -- that we can learn from, contemplate further, and apply to our own businesses.

As GoodStorm's CMO, I also appreciate your taking the time to share our approach to 'Capitalism Done Right.'

[Susan Jones]

I've signed up! Good Storm is now on my blog, I'll let you know how it goes!
(very easy to install and I liked that I was able to pick what would be up for sale!)

Thanks for the share!

www.westcoaster.ca