Best Five Blockchain Use Cases in the Retail Industry
As we all know the retail industry is one of the leading domain implementing blockchain. Most retailers are relying on blockchain for digital marketplaces to improve trust and preventing forgeries.
Below are the top five use cases that big giants in the retail sector are pursuing :
1. Blockchain-enabled marketplaces
2. Preventing counterfeit products
3. Inventory and pilferage tracking
4. Tracking returned goods
5. Loyalty program management
Blockchain - enabled marketplaces
Trust in the intermediary (marketplace) is replaced with trust in the underlying code and consensus rules. Blockchain technology allows this verification to be undertaken at minimal cost, even at scale.
Big giants in Online marketplaces are disrupting product and service distribution channels across the globe. However, as these centralized marketplace players grow, trust issues emerge. These trust issues can increase costs and act as roadblocks to further growth. Marketplace participants should be able to efficiently verify and audit transactions, including the credentials and reputation of the parties involved and the characteristics of the goods and services, exchanged. Blockchain technology fundamentally transforms the traditional flow of information and third-party verification. Any transaction, or information about the agents and goods involved, can be verified at little cost and in real time. With blockchain technology, the incremental cost of verification is minimal even as these marketplace models scale.
Every time a transaction is established, a claim is registered, a problem is resolved or left unresolved, a review is written, or any other transaction event occurs, the associated information is hashed and updated on the blockchain and made available to authorized users engaged in future transactions.
Preventing counterfeit products
With the ability of blockchain to track the origin of each part of a final product, it is possible to have an audit trail that is visible to all relevant parties. This ensures the authenticity of goods and reduces counterfeiting.
Using blockchain, retailers can provide customers with indisputable proof of the provenance and legitimacy of their products. A tech startup in Australia is using blockchain technology to combat the counterfeiting of wine bottles exported from Australia.
Parties need permission to scan the information on the blockchain and the parties who can interact on the blockchain are confined. Every approved partner on the ledger can access and operate the blockchain through a node. The function of a node or a validator is to validate the data before it is added to the blockchain. The validation is based on a unique tag for a product and a scalable protocol that is embedded in the blockchain platform to enable a visible supply chain that includes all stakeholders such as suppliers, vendors, distributors, and partners.
The blockchain maintains a timestamped archive of each token transaction, i.e., movement, in the supply chain. Such a solution reassures the brand’s owners, its logistics partners, and consumers that the captured data stored on the ledger cannot be edited. This creates trust and allows consumers to track the authenticity of the product through a mobile app.
Inventory and pilferage tracking
End-to-end visibility from suppliers to retailers ensures transparency and authenticity where multiple suppliers are involved.
Tracking returned goods
Blockchain systems help retailers ensure returned goods are tracked back to their suppliers, along with contracts to better manage returns.
Loyalty program management
A blockchain-enabled loyalty program can be used to create a single wallet for loyalty rewards, providing convenience to customers and improving trust when multiple businesses are involved in the same program.
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