How can Blockchain encounter struggling Retailers?

• Toshendra Kumar Sharma
• March 13, 2018

The technological revolution has created a world where everything seems to be automated. It has hugely impacted various industries, but here I will be focusing on how blockchain will influence the retail industry. In the past few years, we have witnessed many Blockchain and cryptocurrencies making the headlines. Although, this technology underlies the digital currency transactions its multitude features and versatility makes blockchain find application in various other ways. Many retailers are now looking forward to using Blockchain technology to reform the business operations and take control of the market. It is expected that the retailers who will actively use blockchain will have the edge over the others.

The blockchain is no more an alien technology instead it has become a panacea for most of the business niches. When it comes to the retail segment, then companies are eyeing blockchain to be a probable measure to ensure seamless supply chain management, tracking of products, information about the organization and destination, etc. These are some of the crucial steps which makes blockchain an inevitable technology. There are many companies which have come forward with various applications which use blockchain.

Problems the current retailers are facing –

Before heading further to check out the various companies which are providing blockchain based solutions for the retailers, it’s essential to analyze the problem faced by the retailers.

It won’t be wrong to claim that we can easily find many counterfeit products on the market. The matter becomes alarming when it comes to healthcare products, luxury items. There have been many cases where customers are purchasing fake products at the price of the original.  It is not only a loss to the customer, but also adversely affects the companies selling the unique products. The objective of using blockchain technology for retailers is to establish trust in the brand and also to save the revenue of the company.

Counterfeit Products

Fake products or counterfeit products is a common problem. With the help of Blockchain’s public ledger for registration of all the products and transactions related to them. It becomes effortless for people to track the ownership of the product, the duplicate entry is easily identifiable. Thus, the retailers can get to know about the counterfeit products. This feature of blockchain becomes highly relevant when it comes to luxury goods, medicines and healthcare products.

Tracing the stolen merchandise

Companies like Blockverify who are dealing in blockchain solution can be used to tag the products. Any customer who purchases the labeled product they can verify the authenticity and originality of the product.

Fraudulent Transactions

This is yet another common problem people face when it comes to online purchase, Although companies are providing an e-wallet facility which claims to be safer and secure but, it becomes difficult to recover the money in case of fraud when the customer willingly transfers the money via bank. Using  Blockchain, we can keep a check on this. Moreover, any transaction has to be verified which can be confirmed by smart contracts and thus, there is no need for third party approval since transaction on blockchain platform is peer-to-peer.

Companies rendering blockchain-based solutions to the retailers-

Provenance

Provenance makes use of this technology to document the supply chain of materials, product, and ingredients. This information when provided to the consumer ensures better transparency and customers are assured that they are using the authentic product. Provenance uses blockchain to create a real-time data platform which allows the consumer to run through each step of product supply chain.

Everledger

This is another company which is working in using blockchain technology for retailers. It is a permanent register for diamond certification and storing transaction history. In Everledger, the data remains immutable and unalterable. Everledger also verifies insurance companies, claimants, owners, and law enforcement. The company uses blockchain technology to assign each asset a unique identification which is indestructible and unalterable. It makes use of smart contracts, hybrid of private and public blockchain; it leads to accountability and security of public blockchain and complexity of a smart contract.

Block Verify

It is an anti-counterfeiting solution based on the blockchain. It is a counterfeiting solution for diamonds, pharma, luxury products and electronics. This system enables customers to ensure the authenticity of products. Since all the information is fed into the ledger, it gets easily visible to all the people in the network, and at the same time, it also reduces the likelihood of fraud and counterfeit products making their way to the market.

The Conclusion-

Well, we can say that blockchain is a solution for the retailers to create a more transparent system. It will not only help the company to keep a check on their products but for the consumers, they can verify the authenticity of the product.