Four Click Freedom

The truth of the matter is that most people aren’t carrying that many cards anymore.  In fact the idea of so many cards may be outdated within the next few years.  There are thoughts in the US for having a federal ID that you would carry around.  This card is so advanced you could load the information from all your cards, drivers license, credit cards, reward cards, passport, AAA, all onto one card.

Yes this is still a card, but what I am saying is that there may be no need for a Clickcard in the future.  All this could be stored on your car key or mobile phone.  So the card is actually becoming outdated.

The point here is that most of these universal cards, keys, and phones will have a display on them for management purposes and probably GPS location so you will never worry about losing them and probably automatic locking features.  The beauty here is that the Clickboards can be sent to these devices.

I’m not saying you will be harassed every time you walk by a McDonald’s for a cheeseburger.  Actually only things that you have already stored at your Clickboards.net profile will be sent to you.  So if you are out shopping and you are at the Galleria, you could get reminded that you acquired a $50 gift certificate at Banana Republic.  Well then, it is now worth my time to go look around there.

Oh and when you check out, you’ll just pass your pager sized key over the register to pay and save.

So what you might ask after figuring out what a Clickboard is and what a Clickcard can do.  Where is the money?  You aren’t going to sell anymore Clickboards on Clickboards.net than anyone sells anywhere else.  So where is the money?  Yea advertisers will pay for the statistical information about which Clickboards were activated and general or specific user history, but how much money can that make?  Coupons don’t make that much money!

So here is where you tickle the fancy of the advertiser.  Take a magazine subscription.  That magazine has their name on it right.  Well it also has a bar code that was printed on it, and that bar code also comes with an address.  If this person told Clickboards.net that they were subscribing to this magazine, then all the ads in that magazine could be drawn from their profile.  Then an individualized magazine would be sent to them.  Not one with just a bar code but one with all the ads in it tailored just for them.

What does this mean for the magazine?  In the same place they used to sell one ad, now they sell five or ten.  Ad prices go down and revenue goes up.

The reason I say that this type of idea is best for the Chinese consumer is because of their understanding of disorder.  If you have ever visited a website from China you will soon find out that there is so much information crammed onto a single page that it is hard to decipher direction or purpose.

However there is organization to some degree.  I still have yet to fully understand this but my concept work under this reality.  If Clickboards.net was to be started in the US there would have to be extreme order and too much emphasis on simplicity and ease of use.  But this idea is more like chemistry.  It is developmental in its fundamental theory.  For reactions to happen things need to be mixed.  Typical western sites don’t allow for this.  Everything must fall into one category and you must see only what is pertaining to the exact nature of your direction.

But Chinese websites offer options upon options to the consumer.  For this idea to become a reality this is what you need.  You want them to make choice after choice.  Therefore the database grows faster and the information supplied to them becomes more natural.

If you think this idea for personal shopping guide can be implemented in the west, I think you are wrong for two reasons.  First the basic technology for point of purchase sales is so entrenched that it will never become a reality, be it online sales or registers at stores.  Too many clients will waist your time waiting for everyone to conform, therefore no one will conform.  Here, China is still in its infancy of card use or any other non-card methods of payment.  Second, information gathered from consumers in the west is too narrow to make conclusions from.  You need mass amounts of data to transform into real evidence of purchase cycles and trends, even on the individual level.  The Chinese use the Internet much differently than the west.  The information here is freedom of exchange and they love this.

Following the news last year that China was number one in terms of Internet users we has now seen in the latest China Internet Network Information Center report that by the end of 2008, the number of Internet users in China had reached 298 million, a year-on-year increase of 41.9%. Now that’s an impressive growth rate and no doubt will have commentators exploring issues like sustainability and possible implications.

Further, the report says that China’s Internet popularity rate reached 22.6%, which exceeded the world’s average rate of 21.9% for the first time. In addition, the number of broadband Internet users in China was 270 million and the number of the national .CN domain names increased to 13.572 million, a year-on-year increase of 50.8%.

http://www.sinotechblog.com.cn/en/2009/01/chinas-growth-in-internet-users-rockets-in-2008/

Anyone with common sense can read through the lines here and see that China is the frontier for Internet advertising.  Roping in these customers and provide the millions upon millions with personalized advertising is on everyone’s agenda.  I think the Clickboard can do this.  Simple steps to a more concentric future no matter how chaotic it is on the surface is the answer.

All products are made in China.  Starting at the source and working out will reach the world.  My plans for the Clickboard are right here in Tianjin.  Simplicity and transparency is the answer, there is no bigger hurdle and yet nothing more accepted.