I observed my first SmackShopping live internet game show today. Building on the last minute bidding fun of eBay, and the social networking/buying power of a large group of committed purchasers, JellyFish offers an intriguing experience.
As a semi-standard demand consolidator, JellyFish has agreements with a wide range of normal retailers who contract to provide X amount of discount for bulk orders facilitated by JellyFish. Purchases earn the discount with is split 50/50 with the JellyFish buyer. So there is a buying incentive through JellyFish. But what makes this fun???
Well, for periods throughout the day, there is a real time games how. ‘Players’ (any JellyFish user) vote on particular products that they’d really like to buy. When the show starts, the product discount increases until the fixed number of units are sold. The game involves trying to be the last buyer in and therefore get the highest discount before the deal is done. The top players are then ranked and points are awarded based on the top ten finishers. In addition, observers can guess at what the final discout will be and get a chance to spin a virtual roulette wheel to win an additional prize.
In the game that I observed, buyers were after a PlayStation 2 game which in the end went at about a 45% discount. The closest guesser then spun the wheel and it landed on SmackShop’s choice. They gave him $50, but possible prizes ranged from a Wii, to various other electronic doodads in the $250–500 range.
Its pretty easy to see how this game can become addictive for those who crave a good deal. It also has a lot to say about the future of shopping. The idea of consolidating demand and getting retailers to bid for your business has been explored using the net by a variety of startups over the past few years. The interesting thing about Smack Shopping is that is that it puts the game right up front, and pinpoints that which makes the eBay experience exciting and fun. The other aggregators made their intention to deliver shopping value clear, but perhaps failed to note that the thrill of the deal is the sweet spot and if you can play it up, you can make a killing yourself.
Lucky for me, Canadians can only wtch Smack Show for now. They promise to open it up to Canucks soon, but right now as many merchants will not ship to Canada they have a made a blanket rule. Canadians can use normal Jelly Fish shopping, and determine whether individual merchants will ship to Canada.