Accept Ecommerce Pre-Orders With Celery?

Sometimes you have to wonder about the naming conventions of the digital companies you encounter around the Web. But not the technology, and certainly not the technology's usefulness.

Case in point, Celery from AirBrite, which provides a way for retailers to accept credit cards and charge only when products have been shipped. It could be revolutionary for millions looking to sell products quickly and simply - if you can get past the name. Thanks to flexible charging options (each order is charged when merchants indicate its time to do - including deferring the inclusion of shipping and taxes to a later time) the result is a more elegant buying experience for users.

"Our goal is to fuel the next wave of commerce by providing an ecommerce solution for anyone to sell their products, anywhere--whether it's an individual just getting started or an established business needing a modern and relevant way to sell to their customers," said Chris Tsai, Airbrite Co-Founder.

Ok, fine. It sounds terrific. But let's dig a little deeper into this fruitful garden of technology. Airbrite, maker of Celery, is an open API ecommerce platform (an infrastructure, really) that enables interactions between buyers and sellers that addresses what Airbrite calls "precommerce," allowing its users to set up pre-orders for products and services. The benefit? Sellers can get an idea of the market demand and collect feedback on pricing - two important elements in digital success particularly for retailers.

"We're building products to address the growing number of businesses that understand they need to sell to potential customers wherever they are - mobile, tablet, Facebook, Twitter, or even Google Glass. The possibilities are endless, and Celery is an important first step towards making sophisticated ecommerce tools accessible to anyone."