Our Patent - Business Method
No one expects offline stores to disappear. However, offline shopping seems to be decreasing as people shop more and more online. People still go to offline stores to sample real products, but later they shop online to save money. Here is the solution:
Why don’t we just help offline shoppers purchase at better prices than online?
This patent is the answer.
Electronic price tag (e-pricetag)
Prices change on the e-pricetag as online retailers bid in a reverse-auction system, pushing prices lower. The device has a card swiper that can scan a credit card as well as a cart card (refer to the below).
It enables shoppers to do online shopping in brick-n-motar stores as well as on street.
Cart card
The cart card is used for two important roles:
1. Record the purchase price at swipe time.
2. Allows offline shoppers to pay by cash at the cashier
e-pricetags on streets
e-pricetags in showrooms
Showroom as New Trend
Brick-and-mortar retailers are experimenting new business model
F A Q
Q: Are you a retailer of sorts?
No, we aren’t. We are a marketplace where online retailers can interface with offline shoppers in the real, physical world. Our platform allows shoppers to shop from e-retailers like Amazon, in physical locations, without having to use their own phones or laptops. This will solve the inconvenience of customers who test or come to see a product in a brick-and-mortar store only to order it online later.
Q: What are the benefits for online retailers who participate?
The offline retail market is ten times bigger than a strictly online one. With our patent, e-retailers will finally be able to break into the offline market.
Q: Are you going to sell your e-pricetags?
Yes. However, we will allow any company that makes their own e-pricetags to interface with and use our systems, as long as those e-pricetags meet the technical requirements.
Q: What is your source of revenue?
At the time, our revenue model is still confidential. One of our diverse revenue channels is a membership fee similar to Costco’s.
Q: How will you scale vertically?
We will start with just one newly released product (for example, a pair of headphones by Sony). We will showcase the product in places like malls, theaters and train stations for people to touch and test it. We believe this will be a very effective marketing strategy, one that the product’s company will pay for.
Q: What is your patent? If I use an e-pricetag to sell my own product, am I infringing your patent?
No, using e-pricetags to sell your products is fine.
You are infringing our patent only when multiple online retailers that are selling the same product bid different prices, and the e-pricetag is used to display the lowest price in real-time.
Q: Can you make any profit from sales?
As stated earlier, we are not a retailer. It means that we are not seeking sales profits. We have diverse revenue channels like membership fees, marketing and so on.
About Us
Compeprice is a US startup that is innovating the traditional offline retail space. We provide customers in traditional stores with the lowest available online prices. We accomplish this with the use of dynamically updating electronic price-tags that change according to a reverse auction system.
Tae Sung Chung
Luis Manzo