Retail 2.0 opportunities are becoming more readily available as people learn that they want clean, reliable, and locally-produced energy. Consumers of all levels — residential, commercial, and industrial — want to have affordable energy that they can count on. And they don’t want to depend on what the local government tells them they can have. Investors should be seeking Retail 2.0 opportunities. Why? Let’s discuss the key benefits that are created while implementing a Retail 2.0 market.
The Markets That Can Benefit from Retail 2.0 Opportunities
The more markets that can benefit from an opportunity, the better chance you have of it being successful. If you’re going to invest in anything, you need to know that it’s viable. With the assessment of different markets, the Retail 2.0 market can thrive in a number of markets:
- Large tech campuses
- MUSH (Municipal, university, schools, and hospitals)
- Community solar developers
- Utilities looking to target commercial and industrial clients
- Retailers looking to target commercial and industrial clients
With so many segments of the market able to benefit from the opportunity, it creates a sound investment for you.
Additionally, there are already products that are capable of benefiting from the Retail 2.0 case, including such things as community solar, corporate PPAs, and campus energy products. It’s simply a matter of applying the three stages of Retail 2.0 to the existing entities.
More Cities and Counties Are Choosing to Decentralize Their Energy
Although decentralization hasn’t occurred everywhere, it is occurring on a more regular basis. Residential, commercial, and industrial customers are putting the pressure on governments to decentralize. For what purpose? To get away from the government pulling all of the strings.
Today’s consumers know that there are both economic and social benefits to decentralizing local energy. It allows for more affordable and renewable energy while having the choice to decide where the energy comes from.
Major cities around the globe are case studies on how decentralizing is the key to a sustainable energy transition. When there is decentralization, there is also an increase in energy supply. It allows for the creation of smart cities, with more sensors to provide data and more electric vehicles to reduce pollution.
As more cities and counties around the country choose to decentralize, it provides opportunities to put the Retail 2.0 business model into place.
Several Value Propositions for Key Stakeholders
Investments are meaningless if there’s no value proposition. This is why many ICOs fail, too. As soon as investors realize that the value proposition was all hype, they pull out and the coins/tokens become worthless.
The key stakeholders within the local energy market can pull value out in a number of ways. Both prosumers and consumers can gain value, which, in turn, ensures that the providers and retailers gain benefits. Without value, prosumers and consumers won’t feel the pull to get on board. This leaves providers and retailers with a failed solution – and that’s the way it’s been for quite some time. The Retail 2.0 version of the local energy market ensures that the power purchase agreement (PPA) is affordable with a low cost of capital.
Knowing a few of the value propositions, particularly from the prosumer, ensures that investors know that it’s so much more than hype.
Large Tech
Many large tech facilities produce extra renewables, whether in the form of solar, wind, or any other clean energy. This ensures that the prosumer is capable of receiving and producing. Additionally, it allows them to have a secondary revenue stream while also contributing to the local community’s renewable energy.
National Accounts
Various national accounts can become prosumers by producing extra renewables and selling it, too. The added benefit for national accounts is that they can help their employees and consumers by offering more energy to them at a discount. It becomes a marketing win for them as it shows that they are not only operating in a more energy-efficient manner but that they are good stewards.
MUSH
Those that fall into the MUSH category can ensure that their grid has the power that is needed while having the ability to overproduce. They’re able to have the energy they need without having to question where their energy will come from. They can also choose to contribute to the community model, thereby not only becoming their own miniature grid but also helping the rest of the community obtain what they need. Since hospitals and universities take so much energy, they help the local economy by making the commitment to buy from within the community.
Industrial
Industrial facilities will often become prosumers so that they create what they need while supplying the community with more energy from what they don’t need. Many industrial clients are responsible for so much air pollution due to their constant need for electricity. By switching to more renewable energy sources, they choose a cleaner source, too.
Beyond these basic value propositions for the different stakeholders, there’s also the obvious: more affordable energy. The decision to decentralize ensures that governments aren’t controlling the costs. They save because of producing their own energy and using the leftover produced by others in the community. It produces value – and investors can recognize this for the cost savings that it is. There are no gimmicks to this model. It’s a basic economic principle of cutting out the middleman.
It’s also simple to get people on board with this model. Do you want cheaper energy? Of course. Problem solved. Oh, and because of the community aspect, it’s going to be more customer-centric. It ensures everyone’s needs are addressed, which is what’s failing to happen in the current energy market.
What a Retail 2.0 Opportunity Really Looks Like
Retail 2.0 opportunities are new. It’s what happens when technology is combined with the need to give customers what they want. Where others have failed, this one succeeds because of dealing with the obstacles and failures of those who have tried in the past.
It succeeds because of producing a symbiotic relationship. Throughout nature, it’s easy to see how symbiotic relationships are successful. Hermit crabs and sea anemones benefit from each other on the sea floor. Hermit crabs provide leftovers for the sea anemones while the sea anemones fend off predators for the crabs. Such relationships are a win-win for both parties. It’s seen with ants and mushrooms, coral and algae, goby fish and snapping shrimp, and the list goes on and on.
Why Is a Symbiotic Relationship So Hard to Achieve Within the Energy Market?
The quick answer is centralization. The government gets involved and wants to control everything. They want a piece of the action. They want to dictate and limit the options. Rather than making it a win-win, only one is winning. They’re a parasite.
The only one who benefits in a parasitic relationship is the parasite. They live off the host, gaining plenty of benefits while harming the host.
In the traditional energy market, the consumer is the host. We’re being harmed because the parasitic government is limiting our choices and charging us too much money.
It’s time that we decentralize. It’s why so many cities around the country are thriving. They’ve made the decision to decentralize and create local markets. The local energy markets (LEMs) are a win-win because everyone can access benefits. While the Retail 2.0 energy model is only available in areas where decentralization is already available, its success can be used to persuade other areas to move toward decentralization, too.
Energy is local, affordable, reliable, and clean.
How to Achieve Decentralization with Retail 2.0 Opportunities
In my earlier posts, I discussed why now is the time to disrupt the market, what consumers are starting to demand, how to find major tenants, the role of local energy market models in Retail 2.0, and how to push toward community-driven markets. Within the Retail 2.0 market, it takes a few major tenants to get started because of their ability to become prosumers. They can over-produce on energy in order to provide to the rest of the community. Further, it’s easier to get others on the grid because of promising them a better solution to their energy needs.
Hey, do you want more reliable energy that helps out the local economy and is more affordable?
Why, yes — yes, I do.
It’s an easy sell. It’s all a matter of explaining it with the right benefits to the individual consumer. Campuses, hospitals, industries, and residential customers will all see the benefits, but only if those benefits apply to them.
Everyone wins with Retail 2.0. Further, with the presence of more enhanced technology, it is easier to provide meaningful savings while showing everyone where the energy is coming from and what the costs are. The success comes from tech-savvy platforms, blockchain, and the push for a symbiotic relationship. By removing the parasite from the energy sector, everyone wins.
Customers already know they want the Retail 2.0 market. It’s a matter of finding a retailer capable of providing a customer-centric opportunity that can withstand the pressures of the market. By choosing to be an investor, you deliver the resources that are needed to keep the dream alive — and ensure that sustainability goals are being met every step of the way. If you’re an investor in this field or in charge of an emerging startup, let me know about it.
