In his latest book Free: The Future of a Radical Price
Chris Anderson lists fifty examples on free business models organized into three groups, Direct Cross-Subsidies, Two-sided markets, and Freemium. Below you have the list for free, that I hope Chris doesn't mind. Buy the book to get examples for each + the rest of the book (Freemium):
Chris Anderson lists fifty examples on free business models organized into three groups, Direct Cross-Subsidies, Two-sided markets, and Freemium. Below you have the list for free, that I hope Chris doesn't mind. Buy the book to get examples for each + the rest of the book (Freemium):Free 1: Direct Cross-Subsidies - Any product that entices you to pay for something else
- Give away services, sell products
- Give away products, sell services
- Give away software, sell hardware
- Give away hardware, sell software
- Give away cell phones, sell minutes of talk time
- Give away talk time, sell cell phones
- Give away the show, sell the drinks
- Give away the drinks, sell the show
- Free with purchase
- Buy one, get one free
- Free gift inside
- Free shipping for orders over $25
- Free samples
- Free trials
- Free parking
- Free condiments
Free 2: Three-party markets - A third party pays to participate in a market created by a free exchange between the first two parties
- Give away content, sell access to the audience
- Give away credit cards without a fee, charge merchants a transaction fee
- Give away scientific articles, charge authors to publish them
- Give away document readers, sell document writers
- Give woman free admission, charge men
- Give children free admission, charge adults
- Give away listings, sell premium search
- Sell listings, give away search
- Give away travel services, get a cut of rental car and hotel reservations
- Charge sellers to be stocked in a store, let people shop for free
- Charge buyers to shop in a store, stock seller merchandise for free
- Give away house listings, sell mortgages
- Give away content, sell information about the consumers
- Give away content, make money by referring people to retailers
- Give away content, sell stuff
- Give away content, charge advertisers to be featured in it
- Give away resume listings, charge for power search
- Give away content and data to consumers, charge companies to access it through an API
- Give away "green" house plans, charge builders and contractors to be listed as green resources
Free 3: Freemium - Anything that is matched with a Premium Paid Version
- Give away basic information, sell richer information in easier-to-use form
- Give away generic management advice, sell customized management advice
- Give away federal tax software, sell state
- Give away low-quality MP3s, sell high-quality box sets
- Give away Web content, sell printed content
- Give away online games, charge a subscription to do more in the game
- Give away business directory listings, charge businesses to "claim" and enhance their own listings
- Give away demo software, charge for the full version
- Give away computer-to-computer calls, sell computer-to-phone calls
- Give away free photo-sharing services, charge for additional storage space
- Give away basic software, sell more features
- Give away ad-supported service, sell the ability to remove the ads
- Give away "snippets" sell books
- Give away virtual tourism, sell virtual land
- Give away a music game, sell music tracks
Free 4: In the book Chris also mentions a fourth type of Free that is not listed as it is not considered a business model: Nonmonetary Markets. An example that comes to my mind is to spend nights writing a blog without advertising to build a reputation, continuously develop ideas and concepts, keep yourself updated in a field, get feedback, and get into contact with smart individuals...
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