Wat is Blockchain & Retail?

There are several situations conceivable where blockchain could play a major role. This also counts for the retail industry. Retail could profit from the various advantages that blockchain brings if they start using it for their industry. Let's take a look at how blockchain can play a role in the industry of retail and what the advantages would be.

More transparency because of blockchain

There are several advantages when blockchain is used in the retail industry. The first advantage is that there will be more transparency about products. This makes it possible for sellers to show their customers where and how their products are made. Consumers can then be sure they are not buying clothes made by children, for example. They will also know for sure that cotton farmers have received a fair price for the cotton, as all this information can be stored in the blockchain.

It's very hard to know whether a product is sustainable or not nowadays. Sellers don't always tell where their products come from, as they simply don't know. This is because each part of a product is often made in a different country.

Let's take jeans as an example. The cotton may come from Indonesia, after which the cotton is processed in India. The cotton is then converted into jeans in a factory in Myanmar. The jeans are then sent to Bangladesh to assemble all parts together. Once the jeans are ready, they are shipped to a distribution centre in Germany and then shipped to the store in Amsterdam. How will the store employee be able to know where and by whom these jeans were made?

Each step of the process can be stored in the blockchain. As the data in the blockchain cannot be edited, manufacturers and sellers can no longer lie about the origin. Everyone can see the origin of the parts in the blockchain.

No more fake products

Another advantage is that blockchain allows you to know for sure whether a product is real or fake. If you want to buy a Gucci sweater in a store or on a second-hand marketplace, it will always be tricky to know if what you buy is real. Blockchain will make it possible to verify whether this sweater is really made by Gucci or is just a fake duplication.

You may wonder how consumers can be sure that the product they see is also the product that is shown in the blockchain. A brand will produce millions of the same item, right? This can be done by non-fungible tokens (NFTshttps://coinmerce.io/en/learn/what-is-an-nft/). These kinds of tokens contain a unique value, such as an ID number. Jeans could be distinguished from each other by the ID number on them. This will make sure that you have the exact same jeans in your hands.

Blockchain will make products authentic

The same NFTs we talked about can also increase the value of a product. This is because NFTs will make products unique. Consumers will be able to see what version they bought. As an example: a fan of Apple would pay a lot of money for the first version of the new MacBook Pro that just went on sale in stores.

Healthier food

Blockchain will also enable consumers to make healthier and more sustainable choices when buying food in supermarkets. As a consumer, you will be able to see where a chicken has lived and whether it has had a good life. Nowadays this is always hidden because supermarkets and manufacturers do not want to say much about the lives their animals have had.

You will be able to make a healthier choice because it is much clearer where products come from and what happened to them. Restaurants will also be able to provide information about where the ingredients they use come from.

Are some retailers using blockchain already?

You may ask yourself whether there are already some retailers using blockchain. Some of them are, like Luxarity; a partnership between Lane Crawford Joyce Group and ConsenSys that aims to recycle luxury goods and educate consumers about sustainable consumption.

Blockchain is not only used in fashion — some food retailers use it as well. This is done by Verified Organic in collaboration with ConsenSys. Verified Organic is a blockchain application (dApp) that shows more transparency and responsibility in the industry of organic food production. This makes it possible for consumers to see clearly how organic and sustainable the food is that they want to buy.

Conclusion

There are many situations conceivable where blockchain could play a big role in the retail industry. Producers, sellers, and consumers alike will all profit from the advantages. Some retailers are already benefiting from blockchain, like Luxarity and Verified Organic. However, this is still done on only a small scale.

We have to wait until blockchain actually plays a major role in the retail industry. The technology and the plans are already there, but now we have to wait until it is actually rolled out on a large scale.