We start with eight products in The Advanced Medicine Marketplace to provide Distributors and Resellers an opportunity to understand the Blockchain culture, an egalitarian and fair community.
The initial eight products are chosen "by the Crowd" to provide all entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn the day in the life of being a MicroPreneur in The Advanced Medicine Marketplace.
It provides a crawl, walk, run approach for new MicroPreneurs to learn how to select product positioning, market messaging, successful order fulfillment, and personalized customer service for a product.
After the initial 90 days of sales, online our Distributors will have an opportunity to submit their additional or new product submissions to be evaluated. If approved, they will be placed on the Marketplace and/or available for themselves, other Distributors and Resellers to sell if they so select.
Each product submission will go through a committee that includes CrowdPoint and selected leadership of that Marketplace. In regards to The Advanced Medicine Marketplace, Dr. Buttar, as Chief Medical Officer will be part of the product review process.
The purpose of a product review is to ensure that all products that go onto the Advanced Medicine Marketplace are aligned with the focus and intent behind the Marketplace.
We do not want to turn the Marketplace into an Amazon or an eBay, rather we want to keep it focused on a particular niche so that the customer feels and experiences an environment that is unique to a particular niche.
For details, you will be receiving a greater detailed description in CrowdPoint's FAQs.
In The Blockchain Ecosystem, we want everyone to win. We also want to make sure we don't have to restart after success. We chose eight products because of the following reasons:
I. Need
Find a need and fill it. Our Marketplaces need not follow the model of Amazon and eBay, where small business owners effectively commit online suicide through a race to the bottom.
II. Crowdsourced Call to Action
Write copy that sells. We must teach our distributors and resellers how to build a solid call to action. This provides a benchmark for all new distributors and ensures an excellent and consistent delivery for our customers. Many MicroPreneurs come with vast differences in experience - this allows everyone to benefit from the power of the Crowd and win together.
III. Unified Web Presence
Utilize Blockchain Ecosystem's existing web templates and ensure they are easy-to-use for all Marketplace permeates throughout it.
IV. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Use search engines to drive traffic to your site. Building SEO takes time if we initially limit the products. Participating in our SEO program allows our distributors and resellers to publish blogs where we ask with links we provide so that - before driving leads to their individual call to action page - the power of the crowd builds SEO to a level of social proof. A robust social proof ensures the ideal customer follows through with the link sent.
V. Reputation and Social Media
Establish an expert reputation for distributors, resellers, and technicians. By providing content for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms, our ecosystem looks more credible, and it takes 30 - 90 days to do that.
VI. Email
It will be important that our Marketplace participants follow up with our customers and subscribers by email. Each distributor will get an email from the vertical exchange they participate in.
VII. Sales Support
We want to test how best to increase your income through back-end sales and upselling. Our advanced analytics and AI tools will add additional insight to this process. Each product we bring on has an ideal customer profile (the perfect customer for your product). We are currently testing our data for sensitivity in potential customer responses. It is important that our Crowd provides us their insights on what they like about the product so that we can begin to test messaging to increase the likelihood of a landing page converting to a purchase of your product. There is a science behind online sales and we are focused on maximizing your income via direct interaction with your Call To Action (CTA) page and through back-end upselling after the sale.
VIII. Taxes
These are new products, so we need to test for every state and country because they have different expectations and taxes. That means we have to conduct some research and understand our target market.
For instance, if the Marketplace demographic is located in the U.S., we will likely want to display our prices exclusive of tax. However, if our target market is Australia, where shoppers are accustomed to seeing all-inclusive prices, we will want to include tax.
Other issues are related to what you are selling and where you are selling it from.
For instance:
- If you are located in New York and want to sell clothing, know that clothing is taxed in your state.
- In Britain, value-added tax (VAT) applies to all non-essential goods.
- In California, items you sell in plastic bottles will carry a $0.11 recycling fee, on top of additional taxes.
To cover all your bases, we can talk to our tax professional. Additionally, these experts will help the Marketplace to understand specific circumstances that may affect products and give you insights on how to charge tax for a business's location.
This also helps our distributors and resellers determine if they want to apply for necessities like a tax I.D. and let you know if you qualify for sales tax exemption and resale certificates.
IX. Payment Gateways
There are many payment gateways available for eCommerce businesses. Each one of them has unique policies surrounding the kinds of products sold. If they don't like a product, they can and have chosen to shut off payments. This can be a huge problem; we want to work with them ahead of time to make sure they are comfortable. We also want to build up credibility by not overwhelming them with too much revenue because they then worry about chargebacks. Starting on a few products will help us to pass their algorithms designed to flag an account. The $18.99 fee we collect monthly has the Crowd offset fees associated with anti-fraud fees, transaction fees, termination fees, monthly fees like Customer relationship management (CRM) costs, Warehouse management system (WMS) fees, Material Requirements Planning System (MRP), CrowdPoint Marketplace Email, and additional setup and recurring fees.
X. Trademarks, Patents, and Copyrights
There tend to be some common misconceptions about what these words mean, with must-know laws and regulations around each one.
We want all of us to understand each other to prevent any unwanted legal complications.
XI. Shipping Restrictions
Products will impact shipping costs and options, as not all shippers restrict the same items, so CrowdPoint is exploring options — by researching to ensure we have providers that will take on your products and grow with us.
Most shipping companies note their restricted items. Typically, restrictions are placed on things like:
- Aerosols
- Airbags
- Alcoholic beverages
- Ammunition
- Animals
- Cigarettes
- Dry ice
- Explosives
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Hazardous materials
- Nail polish
- Perfumes
- Perishables
- Poison
XII. Inventory
As we will have inventory, we coordinate with brick-and-mortar locations or warehouses and coordinate with our shipping and fulfillment companies specializing in dropshipping or 3PL. This benefits all of the crowd because by using a dropshipping or 3PL service, we reduce shipping zones or the distance packages travel, which will typically reduce the cost of shipping and time in transit—a win-win for both your business and your customers. Having a clear and organized inventory management strategy in advance will help us create a scalable business plan for the future.
XIII. Age Restrictions
Anytime you launch a website, it's required to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) — no exceptions. This act includes quite a few regulations, but the one that will likely apply to our site is the inability to collect any personal information from a child under 13. We are looking at the implications of selling a product or service tailored specifically to a young audience and ensuring we abide by COPPA regulations.
XIV. Business Insurance
CrowdPoint can calm the concerns of our insurance carriers because we are enabling small MicroPreneurs, which has implications that include general liability, product liability, professional liability, commercial liability, and other kinds of insurance.
We recommend that you reach out to your local insurance provider to determine which type would be best for your business and location.
During your vetting process, it's a good idea to at least look at product liability insurance. It's intended for companies that manufacture, wholesale, distribute, and retail a product and may be liable for its safety. Product Liability is significant if you plan on selling products that are considered high-risk, like CBD.
Also, look into professional liability insurance (also known as errors and omissions insurance), which protects your business against malpractice, error, and negligence.
XV. Licenses and Permits
Depending on which product our distributors and resellers decide to offer, there may be a license to sell it. Licenses vary based on the country where the customer is located, so CrowdPoint is checking the local licensing departments.
When selling unique products to a regulated industry (e.g., medical devices or holistic health care supplements), a prudent organization should check with each state to see if we need to be licensed to provide those kinds of products or services.
"But, generally, the sale of digital information, clothing, or handcrafted items (made in the USA) doesn't require a special business license. Rather, the business licensing required for an online retail business is not substantially different from that of a storefront business."
XVI. PCI Compliance
PCI compliance is a necessary protection for online sellers, and nearly all SaaS eCommerce platforms have it baked to some degree. Online businesses tend to be prime targets for data theft, which is why eCommerce providers take it so seriously — and why you should too.
Educating your business PCI Compliance is the first step to making sure you're protected. Being PCI compliant doesn't just mean providing a secure, encrypted checkout experience — you'll also need to avoid storing any purchasing information on paper or via recording (e.g., if someone were to give you their card number over the phone).