Click to confirm you are 18+

ICO Review — 5 reasons why FlipNpik should be the future of social media for local businesses

BiomanForceRoseOct 23, 2018, 6:27:26 AM

FlipNpik is a blockchain-based collaborative ecosystem that allows users to monetize their social media publications while supporting local businesses.

1. A declining local economy

In the 60s, the arrival of large retailers caused the beginning of the disappearance of local shops. For the past ten years, the arrival of e-commerce giants such as Amazon and the explosion of online sales has once again accelerated the decline of local businesses.

Local merchants can only counteract this downward spiral if they are able to make the most of digital tools in order to increase online sales and store customers, attract new generations and convert them via new innovative shopping tunnels.

One way to achieve this is the use of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, …) which have become, in a few years, an essential B2C communication channel. According to a study :

- 46% of online users use social media to guide their consumer choices

- 68% of Facebook users say they are more likely to buy a product or go to a store after a friend’s recommendation

- On the merchant side, 77% of B2C-type businesses report having acquired customers via social networks.

The problem is the cannibalisation of these communication organs by the financial power of big multinationals. As a result, small local businesses are struggling to exist on social networks and current advertising systems do not offer them a sufficiently interesting ROI.

On the other hand, users of these social networks actively participate in the development of these platforms by sharing with their community their lives as well as addresses they like. Except that these platforms monetize all this data without offering any reward to users of the platform.

It is in this context that FlipNpik offers its collaborative ecosystem that allows users to be rewarded for their social publications and merchants to carry out their marketing promotion at lower cost.

2. The FlipNpik ecosystem

FlipNpik is a collaborative social media based on the Blockchain designed for local businesses and to reward businesses and consumers. One of FlipNpik’s main concerns is to help improve the local economy and promote responsible drinking.

There are three status in the ecosystem:

- The user: these are all the users of the platform who not have a role of merchant. Registration is free as on all social networks but the user will be rewarded for his activity in the form of Flip Social.

- The merchant: it’s the users of the platform who have the role of merchant. Most often it’s the owner of a local business

- The ambassador: users with FNP tokens can become ambassadors for a merchant. To achieve this role, the user will need to make a deposit of 500 FNP (refundable deposit) and recruit at least three active users for the merchant. As a reward for this role, the ambassador will receive 20% of the amounts spent by the merchant in purchasing specific services on the platform.

The main features for the user are:

- A remuneration of his activity on the platform with Flip Social transformable thereafter either in FNP tokens or purchase of services on the platform.

- A local business directory based on geolocation that will locate the nearest businesses.

- A News Feed that will offer the same features as the News Feed of current social networks: personalization, activities of friends and geolocated information.

- A user profile allowing him to introduce himself and specify his preferences

- Instant offers and exclusive promotions that will be pushed to the user based on its location and preferences.

- A bookmarks system called Bookstore allowing the user to save his traders and his favorite posts.

- A Marketplace that will allow merchants to sell their products and users to be able to buy local products.

- A games system allowing users to win products and promotions in a fun way.

- The use of virtual and augmented reality that will allow users to live a more effective and stimulating experience during their online and in-store purchases.

The main features for the merchants are:

- A company profile that contains all the information of the store (place, time, type of service, …) which allows merchants to create their digital identity. Once this profile is created, it will be accessible to ecosystem users via the corporate directory.

- A Marketing tools suit that are effective, affordable and easy to implement. For example, it only takes a few clicks to create exclusive promotions on the platform.

- High visibility thanks to geolocation or by offering games and / or instant promotions.

- The marketplace that allows merchants to have a simple and efficient sales channel while taking advantage of the dynamism of the FlipNpik ecosystem to increase their online sales

- A dashboard (called Smart Data) allowing merchants to have an accurate analysis of their commercial performance as well as the impact of their marketing actions and their communication. In order to improve these different axes, advice based on this analysis will also be provided.

- A publications planner to plan and schedule publications in advance to be published on the application.

- A cryptocurrency terminal that will allow merchants to accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.

- The virtual and augmented reality that will allow merchants to offer their consumers an experience of “shopping” in augmented reality;

- The search for service providers and personalized assistance that will allow novice trader to train and maintain an optimal presence in the ecosystem.

The FlipNPik ecosystem is organized around the three typologies of actors as in the image below:

Users are rewarded for their activities through the platform’s internal reward system. They receive Flip Social (FS) for the various actions they perform within the platform: sharing posts, creating photos or videos, adding new businesses or sharing the application to friends. They then have two possibilities with the Flip Social they have gleaned:

- Exchange them for FNP Tokens with a “exchange rate” of 100 FS = 1 FNP. Only half of the owned Flip Social are exchangeable for FNP tokens and in well-defined periods.

- Re-inject them into the ecosystem to participate in games or to have access to promotions, coupons and exclusive offers offered by some local merchants.

Ambassadors are rewarded with 20% of the amount spent by partner merchants when purchasing premium services. Merchants enjoy significant visibility and have access to a set of marketing and communication tools at a lower cost.

On the technical side, the platform is built in hybrid form offering both a centralized and decentralized part:

- Centralization aims to save processing time and transaction costs. With this in mind, token transfers (FS or FNP) between platform users are managed directly within the platform without being individually registered on the Blockchain. Regularly, the status of all accounts is updated in the Blockchain to maintain a public record of the reports.

- Decentralization concerns FNP tokens transfers to/from external wallet. These transfers are made via the Blockchain, which entails a transaction processing fee.

Regarding the choice of Blockchain to use, the choice of the team was first focused on the Stellar Blockchain which offers low transaction costs and high scalability. However, after a thorough study of market blockchains as well as market trends, Blockchain Ethereum was chosen.

On the techno side, the platform is hosted by Amazon (AWS) and uses programming languages like Angular, Node.js and PHP.

3. An experienced team

The FlipNpik team consists of nine dedicated project members as well as around twenty collaborators and six advisers. The various team members have considerable experience in the areas of leadership, finance, entrepreneurship, project management and public relations.

Henri Harland (CEO) is a seasoned entrepreneur and public finance expert. He has taught finance for 15 years at HEC Montréal and at the Université du Québec, and has held several positions of responsibility (CEO, CFO) in numerous companies. He is also the founder of Neptune Technologies & Bioressources, a NASDAQ listed company.

Richard Marganne (President) served as COO at Oleosea in Lausanne before becoming CEO of Gobet Rütschi. This company, based in Geneva, was the first to carry out an advertising campaign on trams. His street marketing experiences will be a valuable asset for the FlipNpik deployment.

Serge Helou (CTO) is graduated from École Polytechnique de Montréal. He was a software developer at Ericsson Canada before joining L’Oréal Canada where he managed and launched several e-commerce sites for the group’s various brands, as well as the first online loyalty program. His experience has helped him develop skills in digital technologies applied to project management and retail.

The project consultants bring a set of meaningful experiences to the team. Notable among these are Jason Hung, Mobile Business Consultant, and Simon Cocking, Editor-in-Chief of Irish News Tech, who together have already advised more thant one hundred ICOs.

4. IOS and Android apps already available

The FlipNpik app is already available for free on iOS and Android and should be available soon on the web. You can download the applications using the links below:

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1191900917?mt=8

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geekco.flipnpik

The FlipNpik app has been tested in real situation by Geekco Technologies for 3 months in the Montreal area of Quebec. About 700 diverse businesses ranging from food establishments to fitness centers have been registered.

The app is currently being tested in the following countries: South Korea,

China, Russia, Japan, England, Singapore, Gibraltar, India, Switzerland and France

5. None competitor

Even if the FlipNpik project is not the only one to offer a collaborative social network using the Blockchain (we can think of Howdoo in particular), FlipNpik has no competition on its niche. It is the only project, to my knowledge, that offers a social media platform focused on local businesses.

Compared to current social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, Foursquare) or marketplaces (Storiqua or Bezop), the FlipNpik solution is much more complete and covers much more needs. Page 21 of the Whitepaper show these differences via a comparison of these different solutions based on three criteria: the features, the goal and the value proposition.