What if you didn’t have to go to a store to buy a product? Instead, what if your friends were empowered to sell you the products they liked best - the watch from their wrist, sneakers from their feet, and a painting from the artist on their walls? And product makers could then focus on selling to individuals, asking them to resell their products if they’re completely satisfied (for a commission).
This approach does to shopping what Wikipedia did to reference information. Instead of concentrating the ability to sell product among a limited number of resellers, it allows anyone to become a reseller. Consumers become shopkeepers for the things they use and like. And they are better sellers than stores, because they are trusted sources of information to their friends.
If the ability for friends to resell product was widespread enough, makers of non-essential items could avoid distribution costs and keep more of the retail price. Of course, a direct-to-consumer sales model has been one of the primary promises of the internet, but it’s been missing the critical on-the-ground component that physical stores offer. Friends can assume this role. The infrastructure exists. Companies like Amazon.com consist of enormous product databases and delivery systems. With an easy, intuitive, and financially remunerative system for selling products to friends, Amazon can become the infrastructure that supports friend->to->friend selling.
Using mobile phones, friends could sell product on the spot. “You like my shoes? Ok, I’ll take your order right now. Just reply ‘buy’ when I text you this purchase order. I already have your address in my phone book and you’ll get them in the mail in 3 days.”
And they could set up online stores that look nothing like the online stores of today. Unbound by the need to sell as many products as possible, often regardless of quality, online stores of tomorrow might look radically different. They could consist of just a few hand-picked items – the products that a friend would want sell to a friend with the full confidence of a satisfied user. Individuals could afford to sell just a few products – or none – because it’s not how they make a living.
In fact, they could put products in their store that are not even for sale – but that simply enhance the shopping experience. They could place a sold painting on the virtual wall next to a painting that is for sale – in order to convey the breadth of an artist’s work. With no infrastructure costs or paid staff, these personal shops could sell at leisure – they wouldn't have to maximize sales per visit. And if there were enough of them, a product-maker could thrive outside of the traditional store->to->consumer sales model.
