Bluu | Devpost

Bluu Logo
Bluu app screenshot

Inspiration

We know businesses and people are having a hard time because of the coronavirus and the imminent economic recession that would result from this pandemic. Many businesses had to shut down their operations due to the quarantine and many people are losing their jobs because of this. The most affected parts are going to be SMEs that most of them don't sell online and the informal economy like workers that without being able to get out of their homes to work they don't earn money for their monthly expenses. These two problems inspired us because we want to help the most vulnerable parties in the recession that is coming to get through this in the best way possible.

What it does

We help SMEs suppliers to sell their products online, by connecting them with people that sell them through their social media for making extra money. We have a web-app where suppliers list their products and people who want to make extra money (sellers) choose the products they want to share and sell through their social media. The web-app has social sharing integrations to WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook that allows them to share their products easily with their network. We handle the logistics of delivery and payments for the suppliers selling with Bluu. So suppliers can sell online easy and everyone can work from home selling these products.

How we built it

We built the first MVP in Glide, which is made in JavaScript. We did it here first because it gives us a faster way to test our hypothesis and start to iterate.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge is that right now while being in quarantine, the priority is helping to sell more urgent products like groceries or medicines, so people aren't consuming another kind of product from other suppliers like clothes or skincare products. Additionally, we are quite new to the market, so even if our value proposition is going to help a lot of businesses and people that need it, we still have to break this barrier of our clients and users to use Bluu for the first time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The fact that we launched our first MVP with 3 sellers and 3 suppliers, they sold more than 500 products worth $1,500 USD of GMV in our private beta.

What we learned

We have learned through lauching our first MVP in these quarantine times, that SMEs are more attracted to try new ways of selling, so the sales channel that Bluu is offering to these companies is more attractive due to the situation we are currently in. Also, the fact that the people does not have to get out of their homes is attractive too, to the seller and to the client, so they do not put themselves out in risk of contagion, as the sale is done digitally and the product arrives directly to the client's house.

What's next for Bluu

First we want to help these people and companies to sell online in Colombia and later in other countries in Latam. Clearly, we want to help first to fulfill the most we can our country's needs, but our vision is to expand Bluu coverage to our neighbor countries to provide them with our services that, in this precise moment, is helping a wider population due to the COVID-19. Bluu can help people and businesses in normal situations to increase their income and sales and as a result of this, we help economies to grow in a more sustainable and inclusive way.