Umni | Devpost

Inspiration

Originally we focused on fixing a variety of problems in the retail reselling market (aka secondary market). Problems faced include unfair prices from bots dominating the primary market, lack of trust between buyers & sellers, counterfeits, and too many “solutions” platforms that don’t work.

After further examination we realized that problems faced in the secondary market are results from flaws in the primary market. Companies find it difficult to price their products yet have full control of their consumers’ data.

Umni seeks to provide a solution to satisfy both retailers and their consumers. The platform allows for retailers to better understand/evaluate their product and for consumers to have more of a direct influence to price and ownership of their spending habits.

What it does

Umni assists retailers and consumers trying to find a fair price for their good or service. With Umni, a retailer issues a pre-order token, auctions that token off to interested consumers, and allows said token to be redeemed at a retail location for the good or service. This allows participants of the pre-sale to directly influence the price movements as it is becomes purely supply-demand driven. Token price now is a combination of both valuations - manufacturer’s (assumed equilibrium) and customer’s (sentiment driven).

With Umni, retailers can list their products as erc-20 tokens and customize their method of sale. They can choose to auction off, sell in batches, take pre-orders, and have better control over the secondary market. Consumers now have more say over pricing and trust of the market. In addition, Umni plans to provide pricing recommendations through its own price modeling contract.

How I built it

Due to the time constraints of this sprint, we decided to focus our development efforts on the application’s core functionality. Our technology stack involved React.js, Angular, as well as Solidity. As a team of four developers, we effectively utilized our individual strengths to bring this project to fruition. Our minimum viable product showcases the business view and the consumer view of the platform. We foresee more iterations to include building on top of the 0x protocol.

Challenges I ran into

Considering the limited duration of the sprint, our team was able to successfully piece together a prototype, however, we were faced with some challenges. Of the challenges faced, the most difficult task was linking the different components together in a timely fashion. We faced challenges in design as we continued to pivot and sharpen the development.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Among things that have been done, we would outline implementation of the token creation per unique item listed on the pre-sale market formation and demand-supply driven price engine based on solidity smart contract technology.

What I learned

After spending the last 36 hours working heavily with Solidity, we learned that incorporating multiple javascript frameworks requires some careful thought before execution. Ultimately, the possibilities of developing with smart contracts are very broad, but architecting sufficiently before development is key. Hackathon challenges force the best out of the developers involved. Project management, team cohesion, effective communication, and unity are all part of holding together a strong team. We hope to take the lessons learned from ETHDenver with us in our future endeavors.

What's next for Umni

Utilizing the Ethereum blockchain for decentralized price evaluation. In combination with smart contracts, Umni’s price modeling has the potential to truly disrupt the retail market. By presenting Umni’s true value propositions, we hope to frame this product in such a way, that it entices more and more retail establishments to adopt. Umni’s price modeling tool stands to be an asset for businesses looking to run efficient and effective pricing, and consumers looking to gauge market trends or supply market information.