- While it sometimes feels like we do all of our shopping on the internet, government data shows that actually less than 10% of all retail transactions happen online. In a world where we get our groceries delivered in just two hours through Instacart or Amazon Fresh, the humble corner store–or bodega, as they are known in New York and Los Angeles–still performs a valuable function. No matter how organized you are, you’re bound to run out of milk or diapers in the middle of the night and need to make a quick visit to your neighborhood retailer.
Bodega will fully integrate into social networks, delivering the market directly to users and allowing for cross-platform exchanges. By harmonizing a marketplace within social networks themselves, and its focus on offering an open and trustworthy medium for users to make transactions as simply and securely as possible, Bodega provides a safe and easy means for buyers and sellers to do business. Exploding onto the scene with its Facebook application launch in October of 2009, where over 24,000 users signed up in less than 30 days, the demand for such a marketplace was immediately confirmed. With engineering underway for MySpace, iPhone, Bebo, and OpenSocial applications, Bodega is quickly becoming the premier virtual goods marketplace." https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bodega#/entity This is VC-speak for "it's a vending machine." If you want to know what three paragraphs get you $2.5m for vending machines, it's them. Like a vending machine. ...from a vending machine. Like vending machines. ...which they're probably buying out of vending machines. "are you a vending machine?" ..."we might be!" "I could walk a block to get a beer, or I could go down to the lobby to get a coke. Thanks, vending machine!" Right - you could buy a vending machine... or come up with a custom box that uses "AI" and cameras and smart locks and shit that, by the way, can never be put somewhere someone can just walk up, smash the glass, and walk off with all your powerbars. Which pretty much means it's in an attended lobby already. Where the property owner can put an iPad with Square on it and charge you for powerbars. And keep all the money. ...or buy a goddamn vending machine. Oh please god I cannot wait for them to build a vending machine that holds quickcrete and 4x8 plywood sheets."Bodega is the world's first virtual goods marketplace, which bridges the gap between diverse social networks and creates a synthesized virtual community of buyers and sellers. Conventional marketplaces that were designed with real goods in mind attempt to drag social network users to their marketplace, but ultimately fail to connect users with similar needs. Bodega is different.
The idea is to preempt what people might need, then use machine learning to constantly reassess the 100 most-needed items in that community.
In a sorority house, for instance, young women might regularly purchase pretzels, makeup remover, and tampons.
In most cases, Bodega doesn’t pay for the retail space, but pitches itself as an amenity or a convenience to property managers.
At gyms for instance, McDonald makes the case that having a Bodega stocked with power bars and protein powder might make the facility more attractive to members.
In dorms, a Bodega might be a more comprehensive alternative to a vending machine or a college-owned “honesty box” store.
In apartments, a Bodega saves residents a trip to their local bodega.
Within the current business model, Bodega does not have many fixed costs–besides installing the simple box itself–and makes money from the sale of each item.
Over time, McDonald hopes to be able to create partnerships with other retailers to bring mini-versions of their stores to where they are needed. Home Depot might set up little Bodegas at construction sites with the 100 most-requested items there, Staples might set one up inside an office, or GNC might have mini-stores in gyms.
They're gonna fail, cause their idea is dumb. The insulting part is that they openly state wanting to make corner stores obsolete. No. Wait. The insulting part is that they think that smart phone powered operating machines are something people want. No. Wait. The insulting part is that other people have probably already thought of it first, dismissed it as dumb, yet these guys want to go ahead with it and probably expect idiots to put out cold, hard, VC $ to support them. Dala is heading to the grocery store to pick up havarti cheese and a few jalapenos cause I'm gonna try and make her hamburger, on rye bread, with havarti cheese, jalapeno, onion, and mayo. What are the chances these shitty vending machines would have havarti and jalapenos? Idiots.
When I first saw this article on a friend's facebook wall, all I could think was, "Wow, these guys are just trying to increase the amount of vending machines." It's pretty much a hipster attempt at a vending machine but it's adding nothing new really. People really hate this idea so far: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/gentrification-box?utm_term=.yyYk4q5lW#.onN87Gg2n
Yeah if you follow that crunchbase link you'll see that it's full of tweets of people hating on it. It's kinda hilarious. OOP! nope. They apparently scrubbed that. In other words, they were so caught unaware by the hate that they didn't bother to bombproof their crunchbase before hitting FastCo. Nice.
When Dala and I were living in the apartment with the tenants below us that kept us up for hours on end through the nights, there was a corner store so close I could literally see it out my window. The people that ran it, I think might have been Greek or something, and the place wasn't amazing, but they always had Flaming Hot Cheetos, Oreo Knock Offs, and beer that wasn't micro-brew, but wasn't Budweiser either. Half the time I went, whoever was at the counter would be on their tablet face timing with their family, watching a soccer game, or who knows what. Half the time I went, little kids would be behind the counter, excited to greet every customer that came in. Every time that I went, I was glad they were there. There's something about not having to walk more than five minutes to pick up a pack of Cheetos and a can of Red Bull whenever the mood strikes you, and at the same time, see a friendly face.