“If a tree falls in the forest but nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” - it’s a philosophical riddle and there are different ways to answer it. Some would argue that perception is reality and that, unless something is perceived, acknowledged, or witnessed, it is not real. The romantic way of arguing this would be that music is only melodious when heard, beauty only real when admired, blog posts only interesting when read. On the other hand, it can be argued that, just because something may lie beyond our powers of perception, does not mean it should be dismissed as unreal. There are sounds that the human ear cannot detect, colors that the human eye cannot see… yet they exist and are perceived by other creatures. Similarly, there are events - tragic and joyous - happening around us that we may not be witnessing, yet they are real and are shaping the world we live in.
In the forest of CountSpin, trees are falling (or rather, deals are closing) all the time… but often the only creatures hearing the sound are the creatures called ‘gamers’ who score great deals just to sell them back to someone else at a higher price. We want more of the other sort of creatures — those who can appreciate a beautiful watch when they see it and take joy from a great deal when they grab it. To help echo the lovely sound of our falling trees, we have partnered with Elan Communications - a PR agency that we are confident will carry the sound far and wide. We are excited about this partnership and are looking forward to the interest in us that this will help generate.
There’s no denying that the entire allure of CountSpin is based on deflation — face it, you can’t get enough of the thrill of seeing that discount meter spinning while the price drops!
That said, it is worth noting that there are those who don’t see falling prices as something to cheer about. Just ask the Labor Deparment who were none too pleased to report this week that the US is experiencing the biggest drop in prices since they started recording this sort of thing in 1947. To be sure, deflation in this context is symptomatic of a slowing economy which just seems to add to the recessions fears all around. Check out the story on BBC.
But just as our humble contribution towards spreading some Cristmas cheer, here’s an article from the New York Times that may appear like it went to press this week, but is actually from 2003 when everyone was worried about — you guessed it — deflation. Well, the circumstances this time around are totally different… agreed, but then again, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Meanwhile, at CountSpin, we celebrate deflation everyday… all day long!
“What’s the deal with CounTV?,” asked some of the chatters last night on the site. Well, a lot of our initial beta testers had said that they need something to relieve ADD while waiting for the price to dip. So we put in the Chat feature to make this a more social experience. Meanwhile, we had CounTV up there to feature product demos whenever we can. Since we don’t yet have demos for all the products, we figured we’ll start using CounTV to entertain you as well with some cool video clips.
But we have a bigger role in mind for CounTV. We want to eventually have live streaming video where you can interact with the presenter to get questions answered about the featured poduct or the meaning of life. Here’s some interview footage from the time we were screening candidates -
OK, maybe not these guys But you get the idea. Do please share your thoughts.
It’s been just a few days, but they have been exhilarating. We have received a barrage of comments with the usual mix of flattering compliments and constructive criticism. In particular, it seems people want to know more about what’s going on behind the scenes. So allow us to get a bit more candid and follow us, if you will, into the dressing room.
As you may have guessed, a lot of deals have only been featured with 1 unit. On the plus side, we are able to sell off everything this way, but then it’s hardly getting us the volume we need. So now, we are taking it up a notch and putting up more units in each deal — which means the discounts are likely to get much juicier. Isn’t that what you all have been waiting for? Meanwhile, we’re getting a lot of attention from gamers who are scoring deals on the site and then selling them right back on eBay. Not a bad business model, eh — buy where the price drops, and sell where it rises. Of course, this free ride can only go on while our traffic is on the low side and the deals are not being as hotly contested. And you can bet that the traffic will be inching up steadily because nobody likes to miss a bargain, especially during the Christmas shopping season.
CountSpin has been in the making for over 300 years. It all started in the 17th century when the Dutch devised a clever twist to auction off their tulip bulbs. Fast forward a few centuries, toss in the internet, sprinkle a dash of creativity, garnish with some interesting merchandise, and serve while hot. The dish is www.countspin.com but it shouldn’t be washed down with champagne just yet. For now, it goes best with a piece of humble pie.
It’s a soft launch and we aren’t making a Broadway musical on it for a while. We have applied the better part of our focus on building the integrity of the e-commerce aspects of the site. Now, we are turning our attention to merchandising. At first glance, it may look like a watch shop… not that there’s anything wrong with that. Already, we are attracting interest from watch enthusiasts who are floored by the site and it’s floor touching prices. But our ambitions lie beyond just watches. We will soon be branching out to other product categories. Stay tuned…
