Remember our mate Brenny? He’s been on the podcast before and he’s one of the guys behind the brilliant CyberSmarties and GymGo. Well, this bunch of serial tech entrepreneurs are back again with their latest venture. Not going to lie their new company is a proper curve ball and it’s going to properly disrupt a market we genuinely have never thought off… Horse sales. So if you’re watching Cheltenham and have been thinking “Jaysus, I wouldn’t mind owning a proper pony” then now is your chance. So let’s have a gander and see what it’s all about:
What is HorseSales.ie
The Limerick based company has just launched Horsesales.ie, the first and only online auction platform to allow people to buy and sell thoroughbred horses to a global market from the convenience of their couch in a simple and cost-efficient manner. So if you’ve ever thought of buying a thoroughbred horse in time for Cheltenham now’s your chance…
How did they start up?
Once upon a time I visited their old office space in O’Connell Street in Limerick and geniunely this is how they work. Come up with an idea, write it down and stick in the idea jar until their current project is complete. Now with CyberSmarties fully operation, itchy feet set in.
They have realised that the bloodstock industry was well behind the mark when it came to its use of technology, especially when buying or selling horses. Their idea was to use modern technology to make a market that was more efficient and all around easier. They have about as much of a background in horses and horse auctions as I do so they had to go out and travel the length and breadth of the nation speaking with trainers and breeders to see what they needed.
How do customers sell and how do I buy?
Horsesales.ie seems fairly simple and straight forward to use. To sell a horse all the owner has to do is register with the platform and fill in the details that include – uploading pictures of the horse, pedigree etc, choose your length of auction and your reserve (does not have to be seen) and guide price. The Buyer registers to bid and Horsesales.ie verify them as a legitimate buyer. A Bidder can go and see the horse while the auction is running.
Interestingly enough, they also have their customer service team on hand throughout the process and auctions to help you get used to the sales process. Once the auction is over, they liase with all parties to complete the sale (all of which are subject to a veterinary test)
The cool techy stuff
Horsesales.ie is all about efficiency, convenience and value for money. In today’s world, time is money and your mobile is effectively your office. So that means they needed to use technology to create a platform that would allow a breeder, trainer or owner could conduct all their sales business from their phone without leaving their yard and more importantly, their horse doesn’t have to leave their yard. The online element to buying and selling horses is already something new and it also opens up a global market, depending on where the vendor wants to sell.
Sellers won’t have to wait for traditional closed or public auctions to sell. This means less travel and transport cost as well as reducing costs for keeping the horse on site for longer than they would like, plus their own cut is a lot smaller than traditional sales companies in this space.
On the platform, there are three techy touchpoints, Syndicates, VR and TV.
The Syndicates
VR
HorsesalesTV
Goosed Verdict
Personally, I won’t be popping out to buy a pony anytime soon but it’s a very interesting concept to solve a problem in a very niche market. I’ve seen a number of companies looking at platforms of a similar ilk for buying and selling cars at auction but horses are a different game altogether. Horsesales.ie use of virtual reality to add an extra dimension is one of the first uses of VR I’ve seen for sales, rather than entertainment or gimmick. I like this because in recent experience we have all been hung up on AR to improve online purchasing for obvious reasons but it seems that VR might still have a future after all. I’m very interested in seeing where this technology goes and what other industries, auction or not, begin seeing VR as a viable tool to improve their online purchasing experience. Now Horsesales.ie, any chance of doing this for I don’t know, say buying/renting houses online or remove the payment element and we make dogrescue.ie. Just saying.
