There’s something happening here!

The world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles (Uber) The world’s most popular media owner, creates no content (Facebook). The worlds most valuable retailer, has no inventory (Alibaba). And the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate (AirBnB).

The common denominator here is that each of these companies has figured out the magic formulae…Collaborative Commerce through on line Compensated communities!

There is something else revealing about this phenomenon… the idea that a company does not have to actually “own” the asset, product or service…

The key is to find something that everyone always wants and/or needs, and create an alternative economy (compensated marketplace) around that idea…

Commercial trends are accelerating towards an “on-line” culture. The digital tsunami has begun and there’s no avoiding it.

Walmart, who broke the mold in terms of the industrial age distribution model by eliminating several steps in the process and in so doing, created the ‘overhead light’ “Big Box” concept. Sam Walton believed it would never go away, but now that mold is being systematically disassembled, through the building of strings of smaller neighborhood supply stores seemingly gearing up for a transition to on-line commerce, stripping down the traditional distribution model even further. They are moving their massive community on-line. Ultimately the stores will become stripped down “pick up” centers. As stated on Walmart.com <http://walmart.com> by Judith McKenna, chief operating officer, Walmart U.S. “Nearly 75 percent of traffic to Walmart.com is expected to come from a mobile device this holiday season. To better serve the growing number of shoppers who order online and pick up in stores, Walmart is rolling out Mobile Check In <http://news.walmart.com/videos/youtube/new-convenience-features-added-to-the-walmart-app-dcynbuiect8>. Customers can check in using their phone when they arrive to pick up their online order. And new Pickup branding in stores will help guide customers more quickly to the Pickup service area. Pickup is always free at any Walmart store or Neighborhood Market.

This is a major retreat from a controversial trend set by the behemoth in the last decade to corner prime physical real estate in every city in the USA to propogate their Big Box retail model. So aggresive has the giant become in its pursuit of market share among the On-Line giants that it has just announced the closing of 269 stores nationwide, including all 102 U.S Wallmart Express stores, and affecting 16,000 jobs (http://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-to-close-269-stores-globally-1452868122?trk=pulse-det-art_view_ext)

Other traditional brick-and-mortar brands are getting smarter about integrating online efforts with their physical outlets. Nordstrom <http://www.forbes.com/companies/nordstrom> sets the pace among department stores. It bought HauteLook <http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/17/nordstrom-acquires-flash-sales-site-hautelook-for-270-million/>, a flash sales site, for $180 million in 2011 and invested $16 million into Bonobos. Web sales at the company grew 33% last quarter <http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/05/19/nordstrom-invests-heavily-e-commerce> and it’s using its brick-and-mortar locations as distribution centers for fast shipping.

Clearly the leader in the race for On Line supremacy is Jef Bezo’s Amazon.com <http://amazon.com>. This last August the worlds #1 on line shopping community turned 21. In some european countries turning 21 denotes a “coming of age”, the beginning of adulthood, and in a sense Amazon.com <http://amazon.com> has only just begun. In the word of the song writer, “You ain’t seen nothing yet”.

The overwhelming success of this giant and the huge gap its created between any would be competitor makes for a very daunting and discouraging scenario for the the entrepreneur with a taste for technology and a vision to tap into the future trend of predominant on-line shopping.

For years, one name has struck fear into hearts of young e-commerce entrepreneurs: Amazon. The online retail giant has a reputation for ruthlessly competing against upstarts, undercutting them on price and diverting millions of marketing dollars to drive them out of business.

But have they met their match?

Recently I came into contact with a group of entrepreneurs who believe they’ve found the elixir that will balance the scales if not tip them in favor of this new brand of “digital age” thinkers and give Bezos some aggressive competition. Bonvera is their name, a blend of the French word “bon” meaning “good”, and the 19th century Russian word “vera” meaning “faith”. And what better way to generate “Good Faith” than to give a loyal community of shoppers an incentive to keep coming back than to turn their daily “spends” into personal profits. This upstart intends to create an on line Compensated Marketplace where entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs will collaborate as a community by purchasing everyday consumer goods from their own on line shopping centers and share the profits with the entire community. The model will partner with existing name brand giants who are aggressively seeking ways to grab a bigger share of the on line boom. By providing the Bonvera community the same wholesale deals as the giant retailers and Amazon enjoy, the community can offer on-line consumers the same deals as the giants and pocket the billions in profits. Seems like a match made in the Clouds!

#BonveraRocks