Whytelist makes it easy for anyone to set up their own online store
Funded under the Incubate Fund, Whytelist is an e-commerce tool to allow Facebook users to easily set up their own online shop or flea market. Currently only available in Japan, Whytelist was also interestingly inspired by umbrellas.
![[削除済みユーザ]](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/695023b4efd563721d13716b1457bc73.png?d=identicon&mode=crop&r=PG&s=42)
Yes, umbrellas. Founder Ikari Kazuo previously ran a peculiar business involving the recovery of forgotten and ‘abandoned’ umbrella in Tokyo. He then took these umbrellas and offered a free umbrella rental service at cafes and restaurants along Shibuya, Tokyo. According to Ikari-san, he felt that an item that had become ‘void of use’ need not necessarily mean it was of no use to someone else. In other words, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
He then capitalized on the strong trends such as social media and fashion to create Whytelist. Although services such as Yahoo! Auction already exists, Ikari-san wanted to create something that did not have a “complicated, user-unfriendly interface.” There were also many problems of Yahoo! Auction regarding anonymous users.
Ever since its launch, Whytelist has seen high user adoption hitting thousands. They have also held their own physical flea markets and will soon be launching a mobile application at the end of this year.
Whytelistをローンチして以来、同サイトは多くのユーザーに受け入れられ、ユーザー数は何千人にも達し、ユーザー自身の実際のフリーマーケットも持っている。同サイトはまもなく、モバイルアプリも今年末にはローンチするという。
Although the e-commerce market in Japan makes up only 3% of the retail market, what makes Whytelist special and possibly appealing to people outside Japan is the site design is reflective of an actual physical store, which does not stray away from the typical shopping experience in real life. Also, Whytelist heavily features many of the Japanese fashion trends and can attract people who are interested in Japanese fashion.
But with more than 10,000 buzzing entrepreneurial “blogshops” in Singapore selling goods like clothes, electronics and food items online, it would be interesting to see how Whytelist can leverage off the massive e-commerce activity in Singapore and expand globally.
しかし服、電子機器や食材といった商品をインターネット上で販売する起業家的な「ブログショップ」が1万店以上ひしめき合うシンガポールで、Whytelistがどのように大規模なEコマース活動を成功させ、そして世界へ拡大していくのか、興味深いことになりそうだ。
しかし10,000もの勢いのあるシンガポール企業集団「blogshops」は衣類、電化製品、食品などをオンラインで販売しており、Whytelistがどうやってシンガポールの壮大なオンラインビジネスに食い込み、世界進出するのか見ごたえがある。
だが1万以上にも及ぶ五月蠅いほどのアントレプレナーの「ブログショップ」が存在し、衣類、電気製品、食料品がオンラインで販売されているシンガポールでWhytelistがどのように大規模なeコマース活動を最大限に活用し世界的に展開していくのかが見ものだ。
