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naddr1qvâŚzxp6Buying groceries with bitcoin rocks! I have been using bitcoin to buy food and stuff in Uvita over the last two months and what a wonderful experience that has been. There are so many places that accept. I went to the local farmers market literally every time it was open (twice a week) to buy veggies, meat, spices, juice, coffee and even clothes. You pay with bitcoin at every stand, payment fully settled sometimes under 1 second. I used bitcoin definitely more than I used fiat.
What is in the basket is what I bought with bitcoin
As is my nature (and nostr job description)), I was complaining about the UX to the folks involved across multiple companies/groups here in Uvita, with some issues already fixed and some new features/ideas being worked on. Overall the people working on these projects are amazing. This was so much fun and I hope the folks donât hate me for giving them feedback, feedback, feedback - I always tried to make it as actionable as possible (also Iâm hard to argue with when Iâm right :P).
My focus has always been on getting more merchants onboarded, getting more people to accept bitcoin, but after a couple weeks in Uvita I realized that at this point the problem here is the opposite. People are not paying with bitcoin.
I talked to many of the sellers, asked them how many people pay, how often. And in reality itâs fairly rare for them. In the restaurants they only have a couple times per day when someone pays with bitcoin. At the market only around 10% of people pay with bitcoin, while 95% of the sellers accept. That made me feel a bit sad and surprised. This is a buyer education problem, not a seller problem.
Only a small portion of the folks in the picture will pay with bitcoinâŚ
The word of mouth approach is (imo) a solid strategy to onboard merchants, but it doesnât work for ephemeral tourists. As an example consider a âfamily with young kids coming for 3 daysâ. This family doesnât have many chances to receive word of mouth. They come from elsewhere, they donât make many connections or interactions with locals.
Sidenote: Physical bitcoin office works like a charm! I would have not guessed that, but I witnessed it being the spot where people meet, where merchants come to ask questions, where new folks ask how to get onboarded. The Bitcoin Jungle team did an amazing job here. If you are starting a circular economy in some town and already have some office space - consider making it into a âBitcoin Officeâ (even if your business isnât exactly bitcoin). It will bring you visitors, great friends, bitcoiners will come hang out, etc.
Tourist education
We can assume that in âtouristyâ areas the restaurants, markets and shops will be mainly visited by tourists, so the solution here is tourist education. Now think about the journey that tourists go through - they come to the area in a car, maybe stop for lunch/dinner and then they check in at their hotel/casa. The next day they go to the local grocery store/market to get supplies and then do touristy stuff - go surfing, beach, hike, drive somewhere, chill, pool, drinks, etc.
The main touch points for where paying with bitcoin could be introduced are:
- when entering the town,
- at the restaurant,
- at the place they check in (hotel, casa),
- in the grocery store/market,
- in whatever they use to find attractions,
- the tour guides, drivers and other folks working in the tourism sector.
Here are couple ideas to make the situation better:
- Printed brochure at merchants and hotels/casas: a little printed brochure with the same content available at every merchant - so when someone asks about bitcoin, they can just hand this brochure to them. Doesnât need any technical background or price talk - literally âYou can pay with bitcoin here. You need a bitcoin wallet, hereâs QR to get it. Then you need to get bitcoin, here are the options. Then just pay by scanning the QRs that sellers show youâ when you tell them âpagar con bitcoin por favorâ.
- Billboard when entering Uvita: There could be a nice billboard when entering Uvita saying something like âPay with Bitcoin in Uvita! Welcome to Bitcoin Jungleâ and maybe add a link to bitcoinjungle.app and WhatsApp number.
- A billboard at the market: a nice printed billboard on the side of the market that shows QR for how to download BitcoinJungle wallet (and some US available wallet), how to get initial sats on it (e.g. ask a specific person at the market, install StrikeâŚ).
- Discounts: One thing that always attracts an eye is seeing some discount. This could be e.g. included in the brochure - â5% discount when you pay with bitcoinâ, or âpay with bitcoin, get XYZ for freeâ. Someone may suggest wording âpaying with fiat = extra 5% feeâ, but just from a psychological standpoint that is imo less effective.
And of course having bitcoin signs âSE ACEPTA AQUIâ helpsâŚ
Good luck! nout
Originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/887222/r/nout
