Great Businesses I Love #1: Shiply.com

I've decided I'm going to run a feature on the blog called 'Great Businesses I Love' whenever I find them. Businesses that have inspired me in some way, or are doing things differently and shaping the world. I'll present it in a simple 'case study' sort of way, then I'm going to tell you why I love this particular business.

So, to start us off, I want to tell you about a fantastic business I came across just today! Like I said before, I love the constant efficiencies entrepreneurs find in the market and how they lower the overall cost of living, or improve the standard of it (same thing really!), and this business is no different. It's called 'Shiply.com' and it involves couriers and delivery firms bidding for your business when you need something delivered! You list the item you need moved and up to 4,000+ firms bid on it for you. It's done completely online and in real time. This is a FANTASTIC business, because it utilises the empty space on trucks returning home from a delivery they were doing anyways, and thus they don't want much money to deliver something for you, it's a bonus to them. Shiply says this process could save you 'up to 75%' of courier costs, which is nothing short of miraculous. This is all about mobility of goods, and bringing down the transport costs brings down the overall cost of goods in general, making this one efficient business! This will benefit all individuals (apart from haulage firms and couriers long-term obviously!), as goods that might have previously been uneconomical to ship are now economical to do so, and goods that were going to be shipped anyway will now come down in cost. This means we'll either move more or new stuff around at almost the same cost, or we'll move the same amount of stuff around at a lesser cost, therefore either saving moving or providing extra trade/goods/services. Isn't the free market wonderful?

This of course could have a negative effect on haulage firms (assuming we move around the same quantity of goods, but this is 'creative destruction' at it's best). If we move around the same quantity of goods at a lower cost and make haulage firms more efficient as they then fill their empty spaces, this inevitably means we have more disposable cash in our pockets to spend on other stuff, thereby making us 'richer'! Now, this also means there will be fewer lorries on the road as some haulage firms will go out of business and some people will lose their jobs, but the extra efficiencies created and money saved will mean that is put to a more productive use. The fewer lorries on the road means less steel will have to be used manufacturing lorries bringing down the cost of steel, and the labour used to do that can be directed elsewhere. It means fewer mechanics working on and servicing the lorry, and less oil being burned to ship goods, thereby bringing down the cost (albeit ever, ever, ever so slightly!) of both servicing AND the price of oil. Now, I'm not suggesting for one moment that 'Shiply.com' is going to do all this by itself, but the cumulative effect of businesses finding extra efficiency in the economy and the market makes us ALL better off, even if it's only by pennies. And that's what I love about business...