1. Heads or Tails? Ship or Head?
People have been settling disputes via a coin toss for centuries, dating all the way back
to Roman times, when Romans would say, “navia aut caput”, meaning “ship or head”,
as the coins used in Roman times had a ship on one side and the head of the Emperor
on the other.
Flash forward to today, the coin toss has
played a vital tole in sports, as it provides
even odds to determine a decision. In
football, the coin toss occurs before the
game to decide which team will kick off and
who will receive, in soccer, the winner of the
coin toss will chose which goal they want to
shoot on and the loser gets to kick off to
start the game.
The key point is, the coin toss is
normally used to determine a decision,
because it provides even odds.
Brian Grega, CEO, Infinite Buyer Inc.! October 31, 2016

2. Comedian Bill Cosby, not to overlook his personal transgressions, had a classic bit
called “Toss of the Coin”, which went into how much the “win” of a coin toss could have
determined who got the advantage during events in history, specifically the
Revolutionary War. It went like this,
“General Cornwallis of the British, this is General
Washington of the Continental Army.”
“General Washington of the Continental Army, this is General
Cornwallis of the British.”
“If you would shake hands, gentlemen.”
“O.K. British called ‘heads’, .... it is ‘tails’.”
“General Washington, what are you
going to do?”
“General Washington says his troops will
dress however they wish, in any color, in
buckskin and coon caps, and hide behind
the rocks and trees and shoot at
random.”
Brian Grega, CEO, Infinite Buyer Inc.! October 31, 2016

3. “British, you will all wear bright red, all shoot at the same
time and march forward in a straight line.”
We know how that turned out.
Brian Grega, CEO, Infinite Buyer Inc.! October 31, 2016

4. Let’s shift sideways, not in time, but in venue. What if a “toss of the coin” had been
used in commerce, more specifically in retail? Prior to the evolution of online
commerce, I would postulate that the “toss of the coin” would have gone like this,
“Mr. Consumer, a Prospective Customer, this is Mr.
Merchant, a Store Owner.”
“Mr. Merchant, a Store Owner, this is Mr. Consumer, a
Prospective Customer.”
“If you would shake hands, gentlemen.”
“OK. Mr. Consumer called ‘heads’, .... it is ‘tails’.”
“Mr. Merchant, what are you going to do?”
“Mr. Merchant says, he will only offer inventory that he
chooses, he will only transact when his store is open and he
will decide what the price is for any, and all transactions.”
“Mr. Consumer, you will only be able to choose from Mr.
Merchant’s inventory, you will only be able to transact when
Mr. Merchant’s store is open and you will only be able to
transact at the price Mr. Merchant has published.”
Sound fair?
Obviously, this is a parody on how commerce worked for centuries, when the merchant
essentially set the rules and the consumer had few, if any alternatives.
Flash forward to August 11, 1994, when the first item purchased via commercially
available data encryption happened, this event triggered a new “toss of the coin” for
commerce, that would change the rules, forever.
I would postulate that today’s “toss of the coin” would go like this,
“Mr. Merchant, an Online Store owner, meet Mr. Consumer,
an Online Shopper.”
“Mr. Consumer, an Online Shopper, meet Mr. Merchant, an
Online Store owner.”
“If you would shake hands, gentlemen.”
“O.K. Mr. Merchant called ‘heads’, .... it is ‘tails’.”
Brian Grega, CEO, Infinite Buyer Inc.! October 31, 2016

5. “Mr. Consumer, what are you going to do?”
“Mr. Consumer says, he will shop at any time of the day and
with any Online Store he chooses, he will transact when he
wants and/or needs the item, and he will transact at a price
he is willing to pay.”
“Mr. Merchant, you will have an item in inventory that Mr.
Consumer wants, or needs, you will provide a simple means
of transacting whenever he wants, or needs to transact and
you will allow Mr. Consumer to ‘make a deal’, at a price he is
willing to pay.”
There is one small caveat, the transaction price is mutually agreed upon, as obviously, a
merchant has to not only cover their costs, but making a profit is a merchant’s objective.
The point being, in today’s e-commerce economy, the rules have been changed and the
consumer has greater control over their buying journey than at any other time.
The consumer has choices, they can decide when to buy, what they need to buy, at a
price they are willing to pay. The consumer can venture to a online seller’s site, find the
item they are looking for and either “buy now” or search for a better price, which
happens all to frequently.
Until merchants realize and accept that consumers have greater leverage over their
buying journeys, and are using that leverage, we will continue to see low, single digit
conversion rates and high shopping cart abandonment rates, which is a peril to online
sellers.
Brian Grega, CEO, Infinite Buyer Inc.! October 31, 2016