Reduce prices through online interaction

"The beauty of the platform is that it gives customers what they want - reduced prices - for providing the websites' owners with what they want - demographic information that allows them to define and shape their businesses," says Paul Middleton, the South African representative.

It enables the promotion of a product or service at a rate that can then be reduced by users as they share information such as their contact details or opinions on the site, product or service. The customers can continue to interact with the platform until they are satisfied with the reduced product price and then make their purchase.

Companies enter into an agreement with madai for a three-, six- or twelve-month rental of the platform, which is then integrated directly onto their websites. They can then choose the method and frequency with which they use the platform - be it for promoting a product, conducting market research or running a competition.

More than discount coupon sites

On the surface of it, this product may seem to go head-to-head with the discount coupon sites that have taken the world by storm, but the objective of the madai platform is very different.

"Madai takes the whole shopping experience to another level, where the consumer has the power to decide on the right price for a product, while the seller gains the advantage of learning more about what their customers actually want," says Middleton.

"More than anything, it provides a new and exciting way of interacting with consumers - it's about so much more than making a sale."

Data protection

At the same time, madai is not about exploiting the private information of users. With every interaction, the platform will let the user know the intended use of the data. The data will not be passed on to any third parties without explicit permission and if this authorisation is obtained, it will result in an immediate benefit to the user in the form of a discount on the product or service.

So far, a well-known winery will be using it to promote their new products and an international hotel chain intends on using it to introduce an innovative incentive scheme.

"Madai enables the companies that use it to relate to their customers in innovative ways, delivering more of what they want as it comes to know more about their market, it is still in the early stages, but it has the potential to revolutionise customer interaction for the benefit of the customer and the business."

Aid to NPOs coming

Two Italian professionals from the IT, online marketing and ecommerce sectors, who have been working in these fields for more than twenty years, founded Madai in the UK. It is backed by six international founders and employs 18 people to develop and distribute the platform in five key countries: Italy, the UK, France, Spain and South Africa.

Later this year, it will be introducing madai-aid, a platform to support non-profit organisations in promoting their causes, making them more visible and facilitating their relationships with other organisations and the public.

For more information, go to www.madai.com.