The Auction House

An idea around an auction / rewards

As many of you know, we have items made that have yet to release. Some of these items you have seen before, and others you may have yet to see.

The biggest "issue" with these items is that some were produced when Minted New York was MUCH smaller.

This lends itself to some unique issues:

1. The pieces were expensive to make (all of them are made here in NYC)

2. The quantity produced is relatively small (think 3-10 pieces per product)

3. The time it takes to create these pieces is immense - due to the detailing in some

4. The community feedback around these products has been incredible (I will get into this issue below)

In summary - we have a limited amount of items that each have a high demand, and I want to avoid upsetting people who may think they would otherwise be released as an entire production run.

The mental gymnastics used to figure out how to release these products went something along the lines of:

• Option 1: Release them normally on the website with a high price tag

• Option 2: Give them away

• Option 3: Setup an auction-style process and donate the proceeds to a local NYC charity

I ultimately landed on the "Setup an auction style process and donate the proceeds to a local NYC charity" because I think it will allow the products to fetch the prices they deserve. Ultimately, the more they sell for, the more we can donate to a good cause in our neighborhood.

Upon deciding on the auction format, I began viewing it from the end consumer perspective. Going into this, I knew the experience had to be smooth - with little friction in having customers join the auction and make bids if they choose to do so.

This is where I am currently stuck…

Shopify is our current e-commerce platform provider, and there is no easy way to integrate auction-style selling into our existing website. Any custom-made auction-style application would require some way for a customer's bids to be tied back to either a credit or a debit card, i.e., some type of account for the Minted New York website.

I personally would see this as an initial layer of strong friction to joining the bidding/auction, and I want to hear what you all think of the idea.

1. A product page containing the item you want to bid on

   

When you hit "enter bid," you will be brought to the signup (below)

After creating an account etc., you could engage in the auction process.

Ideally, this account becomes a Minted New York / Minted Health account with which you can collect rewards for previous purchases (we will backfill rewards for all previous purchases from both brands so that everything is accounted for).

A rewards system with actual value is an entirely new discussion that I would LOVE feedback on. Many brands have reward systems but don't add much tangible value for the consumer.

Do you have rewards programs that you currently enjoy? If not, what would you love to see from a rewards program? Please have a discussion in the comments below (about the auction, rewards program, or anything else on your mind) - I'll be asking questions as well.

Training

This week's training block was 53 miles with 4 lifts:

1. Monday: OFF (Lift - Push)

2. Tuesday: 7 (2 easy then 2 @ 5:48 (2 min rest) 2 @ 5:48) (Lift-Pull)

3. Wednesday: 8 (with 10 x 26 sec hill sprints) (NO LIFT)

4. Thursday: 8 easy (Lift - Legs)

5. Friday: 7.7 (trackwork - 8x1000m @ 3:33 + 4x200m @ 38) (Lift - Push)

6. Saturday: 6 easy (No Lift)

7. Sunday: 16 Long (12 @ 6:45 - last 4 @ 6:15) (No Lift)

I am debating a late charity entry into the NYC half. I want to get a race on the calendar to break up the monotony of training.

Articles I found interesting this week:

What I Learned Reading 1,000 Investor Reports

5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq

Early-life stress can disrupt maturation of brain's reward circuits, promoting disorders