Runs.com — A decentralized eCommerce platform built on Digital Trust
INTRODUCTION
Runs.com is a blockchain based, decentralized, community-driven platform. Their vision is to be a truly democratic platform allowing the members to decide, create, buy and sell experiences amongst themselves with the platform acting as a facilitator.
RUNS is starting with the coffee, cinema and cricket experiences and their aim is to make possible any experience in demand by the community members.
THE PROBLEM: SKU BASED eCOMMERCE
In the current eCommerce business model, existing players are either intermediaries in buyer-seller transactions or they sell their own products because it leads to increased profits. It becomes a threat for the businesses that depend on these eCommerce platforms because they have to compete with the platform itself.
Some of the major issues are:
- Lack of transparency: Data being collected by the platform can be used to compete with external platform participants themselves, thereby becoming their most significant threat.
- SKU Commoditization: There is only one attribute of the product or service being sold, that is discoverable by buyers — ‘Price’. Offerings are maintained as SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) and pushed to consumers. This assumes significance in an experience economy where the definition of consumer “value” has moved beyond price.
- Trust: Lack of verifiable information about the authenticity, specialty, uniqueness, origins, ethical sourcing practices, environmental impact, and social significance of offerings listed.
- Centralized Monopolies: Governance and control is purely retained by the platform.
THE SOLUTION:
- EXPERIENCE COMMERCE
Most of the eCommerce platforms these days cater only to the practical considerations of the buyer and the emotional component remains untouched. When commerce connects to the buyers as a whole (practical and emotional considerations) it becomes experience commerce.
- DIGITAL TRUST: THE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY
Blockchain technology establishes “Digital Trust” in many key aspects of eCommerce. It is the fundamental design principle of Blockchain that enables ‘decentralized community control and transparency’ — something that strikes at the heart of centralized, largely less transparent business models of traditional eCommerce players of today. From sourcing to transactions to data utilization, immutable ledger entries develop transparency in the way the platform operates. Further, enabling the user community to actively participate in the governance, transaction activities, and payments associated with the platform, are going to be the key in achieving a trusted decentralized marketplace.
The RUNS Platform blockchain will be based on open-source software tools deriving from either Ethereum or Hyperledger. As both blockchain options are rapidly evolving, we will assess the applicability based on interoperability with the public Ethereum blockchain and ability to program smart contracts that meet the needs of the RUNS Platform.
Runs will transform eCommerce in two ways:
- From a centralised intermediary to a trusted decentralized marketplace.
- From electronic commerce (SKU) to experience commerce (XKU).
These transformations will be achieved using the blockchain technology which will help in delivering the established decentralization and digital trust. While the XKUs (experience keeping units) will replace products (SKUs) and transform Electronic commerce to Experience commerce.
Runs aims to be a Decentralized Experience Commerce Platform. Runs will achieve this transformation across two phases; Pre Decentralization phase and Post Decentralization phase.
The concept of XKU serves as a differentiation factor for Runs. An XKU is a unique identification code that can be entered to a distributed ledger. XKUs include the basic attributes of SKUs and adds 3 additional attributes on top of that — story, source and sustainability.
- Story measures aspects such as authenticity, speciality and uniqueness
- Source addresses origins and source of components that resulted in its creation.
- Sustainability informs the ethical practices, environmental impacts, and social significance.
RUNS TOKENS: Building an Ecosystem
RUNS tokens are the primary unit value of the Runs platform. RUNS tokens will be utilised to provide incentives to the members for their participation and will allow them to purchase the experiences listed as XKUs. RUNS tokens will form the basis of all the transactions on the RUNS platform. There would be referral rewards for members who contribute in building the community as well. Earning and holding RUNS tokens from the early stages can result in the participants achieving stronger influential status in the platform governance over time.
Each member of RUNS Platform is automatically issued a RUNS Wallet, which is cryptographically constructed. The RUNS Wallet will be used to track rewards earned and spent along with the transactions involving the RUNS tokens.
Token Specifics
Token Name: RUNS
Total Token Supply: 180,000,000 (no burn/no inflation)
Price per Token: 1 RUN = 0.70 USD (or corresponding price in BTC, ETH)
THE ROLE OF RUNS WILL BROADLY EVOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
RUNS will no longer be the sole seller, but will compete in the decentralized digital marketplace along with other players.
- From a platform perspective, RUNS will continue to maintain and administer the technology platform that supports the Trusted Decentralized Digital Marketplace — RUNS will not be an intermediary to any transactions, but will be a true enabler of the digital marketplace by looking to provide premium technology support and value added services.
RUNS TEAM:
Giri Devanur — President & CEO
Artit Wangperawong — Chief Technology Officer
Carlos Fernandez — Chief Growth Officer
Sandesh Nanjundappa — Chief Digital Officer
Avi Jain — Senior Vice President, Finance
COMMUNITY LINKS
