Pointy offers local shops the chance to compete online
by Startacus Admin
Search for any product online, and the first result or two (or three or four or five) is likely to be Amazon. As handy as Amazon can be for shopping, it and other online shopping megastores are proving disastrous for some small, local shops.
Small businesses are closing their doors in record numbers, even after putting all of their products online to try to keep up with the times. At the end of the day, it boils down to one thing: visibility. It doesn’t matter if you have a thousand products online on your beautiful, sleek, user-friendly website if nobody knows about your site and Google doesn’t list it until page 12.
Step forward Dublin-based startup Pointy, who have a simple and elegant solution for many smaller businesses.
The Pointy box is a little device that could fit in your palm and acts as a bridge between your barcode scanner and your cash register. 
When a barcode is scanned, that product is immediately added to your page hosted and maintained by Pointy. You do not need to do anything else, as Pointy will gather product images and details itself, and will point the customer straight to your door. Pointy is designed to be as search engine friendly as possible so that when a potential customer searches for a product, they will be notified of a local shop that stocks it, right up there beside Amazon.
Although something like Amazon can be convenient, many people like to be able to stand in front of a product they are thinking of buying and look at it properly, feel it, try it on, ask questions about it, and so on, and it is just the convenience of only having to click the mouse a few times that prevents us from going out and searching local shops for the product. In short, many of us would opt for supporting a local shop if only we knew about it and knew that we could get what we want from it.
If there were any doubt about how important this product could be, it is easily allayed by the fact that the startup has recently raised $6m in funding, including £4m from the founders and co-founders of huge names such as Microsoft, WordPress, Bebo, TransferWise, and Google Maps and lead by Frontline Ventures.
(Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen of Vulcan Capital, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen, Bebo-co-founder Michael Birch, Transferwise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus).
Although this solution won’t work for some smaller retailers who have no need for a barcode scanner, or who might stock products that don’t even have barcodes, this small box is a big step towards helping to bring shoppers back to brick and mortar shops.
Hi-5's to Pointy co-founders Mark Cummins and Charles Bibby and we can only see good things for this startup who's business growth is surely only pointing upwards...
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Andrea Szell, Founder of Spare Desk shares some insights on the positive impact that sharing a workspace can have on our mental health.
.png)
Sodexo Live! and L Marks open call for applications from innovative startups and scaleups to join their inaugural North America Innovation Lab.
.png)
Startups founded by students and recent graduates from the University of Edinburgh secure SMART:SCOTLAND grants to help support their ambitious and innovative projects.
Lydia Kothmeier, VP of Operations at Storyblok shares insights on the processes and policies that every startup should have in place in order to make remote working work.
The lowdown on HoloToyz, the Irish startup and its products for kids that can come to life through the power of augmented reality.
Inbound Investors 2022 providing NI businesses with the opportunity to pitch directly to leading UK investors over the course of one day.
Enterprise CMS Storyblok launches Storyblok V2 in a bid to further empower teams to create and scale standout audience experiences.
The lowdown on Nothing, the London-based startup that's creating innovative connected products "to make tech fun again."
The lowdown on Athos, the Spanish startup that has created a customized climbing shoe that's been made with 3D printing technology.
Edinburgh-based startup Swurf connects remote workers with welcoming spaces to work in since "you don’t need an office to do your best work!"
Published on: 1st October 2017
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Sodexo Live! And L Marks Seeking Startups and Scaleups for first ever North America Innovation Lab 5th Aug 2022 Sodexo Live! and L Marks open call for applications from innovative startups and scaleups to join their inaugural North America Innovation Lab.
- Innovative University-supported startups secure £500,000 in grant funding awards 4th Aug 2022 Startups founded by students and recent graduates from the University of Edinburgh secure SMART:SCOTLAND grants to help support their ambitious and innovative projects.
- Registrations Open for Inbound Investors 2022 2nd Aug 2022 Inbound Investors 2022 providing NI businesses with the opportunity to pitch directly to leading UK investors over the course of one day.
- Storyblok Launches New CMS Experience to Shape the Future of Digital Storytelling 1st Aug 2022 Enterprise CMS Storyblok launches Storyblok V2 in a bid to further empower teams to create and scale standout audience experiences.
