You would think that sites like Expedia and TripAdvisor had the online travel world more or less sewn up. But every now and again a new site pushes its head above the parapet and starts to carve out its own little niche.
Given the amount of coverage its received in The Washington Post, New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (amongst others) Packlate.com might just be one of the lucky few that does just that.
And like so many good ideas, PackLate is surprisingly simple.
Best described as a last minute vacation rental marketplace, Packlate works with vacation property managers to take their unsold vacation rental inventory (near the check-in date) and offer it to consumers at a hefty discount (sometimes 50% or more).
The site uses a dynamic pricing system, creating an effective game of chicken. As check-in dates approach, the price on the site drops accordingly until someone snaps up the deal. If you don’t grab a deal early enough, someone else might just snatch it out from under you.
Although it only launched officially in 2009, Packlate is based on a proven concept that has worked well in other industries and in other areas of the travel market. (In fact, it’s a wonder that a site like this hasn’t gained ground before. Let me know if you know any that have.)
What’s more, company founder Steve Barsh, has run the same concept with his own vacation rental property in Park City, Utah for over 10 years.
So two ideas in one here:
How could you use dynamic pricing (and introduce a little competition) in your industry?
What smart marketing methods do you see being used in one business that could be scaled up to suit an entire industry?
There are, by my count, something like a gazillion social networks. There have been over 2 million created on Ning alone. But that isn’t to say that you can’t start a successful social network project catering to a well-defined niche or by bringing something new to the table.
One current trend is to help people take online connections and move them offline – kind of like online dating but without the kissing and cuddling. CribSocial is a site that’s very much in that vein.
Although keen to “live an adventurous life and tryout things like skydiving, bungee jumping”, site founder Ravinder Virk quickly realised that his circle of friends didn’t share his passions. So, he set about creating a simple site that would help him, and others like him, connect with likeminded people offline.
The idea is simple enough. You add an activity (say, dancing or rock climbing) on the site and tag it with information including your location etc… Visitors to the site can then search for activities listed by others, again based on criteria like the kind of activity and where it is.
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to do this online too. You could join (or setup) a Facebook group, find lots of people to connect with and then move those interests offline. You could arrange a group activity on MeetUp and do it that way.
It’s certainly not a guaranteed winner, but what CribSocial may have going for it is that the intention is clear from the outset – to find people with similar interests to share offline activities with.
At the same time as the worldwide newspaper industry is in serious trouble, UK startup Newspaper Club is making newsprint cool and attracting works and commissions from the likes of the BBC, Wired, Penguin and Last.fm.
Currently in beta, Newspaper Club is an online service that makes it easy for “people and communities make their own newspapers” – although they seem to be gaining more ground with brands looking for something a little different to get their message out.
The standard 12-page tabloid newspaper can be printed from PDF in both black and white and full-colour, in print runs as small as 5 copies. Pricing is kept in check by making use of downtime on newspaper printing presses and would-be media moguls can get help with design through ARTHUR:
“… if you need a bit more help, we’ve got a tool called ARTHR, where you can upload your own text and pictures and we’ll help you lay it out on the page so it looks lovely. Then you can get it printed”
A bespoke service is also available to help source writers and artists as well as handling the complete design and print process.
Funded by 4iP, Newspaper Club has a lot in common with HP Labs’ MagCloud (print-on-demand magazines) – both of which take a retropreneurial spin by putting ‘old school’ media into the hands (and price ranges) of funky brands, communities, interest groups and small business.
Spikeball is a volleyball-like game where two teams of two compete to keep the ball in the air before spiking it off a circular sprung net on the ground. Originally marketed as a beach game, it’s now taking off in backyards and parks across America.
But it’s also a rather unconventional business.
Spikeball actually launched way back in the early 90’s but failed to take off, before being brought back to life – and given a new attitude – by a group of 7 friends from Illinois.
We caught up with co-founder and company president Chris Ruder to learn a little more about Spikeball and the business behind it:
Let’s imagine that you want to create a forest from scratch.
You’ve got two basic options: transplant one big tree or plant thousands of native seedings.
If you decide to transplant one big tree, the hope will be that that one tree drops a few nuts, which turn into little seedlings, which grow up to be more trees, which drop some more nuts and so on. A big tree will also provide shade and fruits from the start – perfect if you’ve got a hungry population to feed.
Of course, there are a few problems with this idea. First off, you’ve got to get the tree – which is gonna cost – and the transplant might not take; the big tree could wither and die and you’re back where you started. You’re also placing all your proverbial eggs in one basket, if that tree gets hit by lighting of falls foul of some illness then, again, you have to start all over.
Planting hundreds (or even thousands) of tiny saplings is a lot more work and there’s a lot less to look at from the outset. It could be years before you start to see the results, and, chances are an awful lot of your precious saplings won’t survive the winter.
But with hundreds to choose from the chances of a few taking root and growing strong are pretty good – and you’re also much more likely to attract lots of other little plants and animals to add depth to your budding ecosystem.
That, and you’re teaching your community to become growers – so when you have one forest, you also have everything you need to keep adding new trees.
Needless to say I’m not talking about trees, or forests or plantlife of any kind.
I’m talking about business. More particularly I’m talking about the transplanted trees of large multinational employers (foreign direct investment) versus the saplings of indigenous startups.
Not a perfect metaphor I know, but where would you place your bet?
