i3 - July/August 2019 - 26

Among the initial partners are high-tech/home
goods retailers Auchan and national merchants
Galeries Lafayette and Carrefour. "Blockchain
technology allows us to give retailers access to
transparent and verifiable performance indicators," explains Benchimol, adding that the secure/
private cryptographic method ensures that personal information is not disclosed.
In its first month of operation in France, the
company signed up 20,000 daily users, according
to Benchimol.

MEETING CUSTOMERS' EXPECTATIONS

Advocates of bringing blockchain into the retail
experience focus on features that cater to the digital-savvy customers of digital shopping. These customers want to be sure the products they buy are
authentic, hence the value of blockchain's promise
of a single source of truth.
Analysts also cite blockchain's ability to prevent
fraud, especially when integrated with existing
tools such as smart tags that keep track of products
(and their components) from the point of origin to
store shelves. Retailers also can manage each customer's digital ID, including audit trails that track
how customers assess potential purchases.
Supporters of these features contend that this
approach fits into the new privacy protection initiatives such as the California Consumer Privacy
Act of 2018 and Europe's General Data Protection
Regulation. Via blockchain, retailers could manage consumer data with automatic compliance,
such as using smart contracts that govern per-

BLOCKCHAIN
UPDATE
For those who came in late:
blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology, in
which data and transactions
are maintained throughout a
peer-to-peer network so that
all activities are fully transparent and cannot be altered.
The distributed technology
has been in development
for nearly 30 years, but it
took off in 2009 when "Satoshi Nakamoto" published
a white paper which became the basis for Bitcoin
and other cryptocurrencies
based on blockchain.
Blockchain's core quality is
that the decentralized system
strengthens authentication
and digital trust because it
uses mass collaboration and
a robust workflow. Although
the volatile cryptocurrency
market (featuring big names
such as Bitcoin, Ethereum
and Binance) has generated
both big rewards and huge
skepticism, the underlying
blockchain technology is being widely implemented in
supply chain management
and global commerce.

missions and access to consumer data.
Smart contracts are another vehicle for retailers to use in connection with payments, automated refunds, insurance and other transaction
factors that require security and the ability to
assure consistency to all parties.
Consultants are already preparing lengthy lists
of ways in which retailers can use blockchain's
verification features on everything from taxation
(keeping track and submitting tax information
in ways that absolve them of liability) to cybersecurity and micropayments (inevitably involving cryptocurrencies).

TOO SOON FOR THE
BLOCKCHAIN PLUNGE?

"Most companies that are looking at blockchain
will need to crawl before they run," CTA's Cutts
contends, underscoring the reality that many
organizations are just beginning to assess how
blockchain will work for them.
He cited the TradeLens project being conducted by IBM and transport company Maersk,
calling it "a promising one," despite the challenge
of recruiting additional participants.
"In this scenario, market power is spread across
a number of companies and a number of geographies, making coordination and cooperation
more difficult," Cutts explained. Most significantly, companies are at different levels of technical sophistication and have different corporate
cultures when it comes to sharing information."
As retailers look around for examples of

E X P E R T I N S I G H T S O N B LO C KC H A I N
Executives involved with retail blockchain systems and those who are monitoring the industry's
progress offer their outlooks on the increasing use of the technology in the retail process.

Jack Cutts

Senior Director, Business
Intelligence and Research

Consumer Technology Association
"The most promising use cases are those involving efficiencies in the B2B space. In those scenarios, a mass merchant
has the ability to dictate how its goods will be handled and
what underlying tracking and inventory systems will be used.
A retailer who is determined to use blockchain to drive efficiency and/or track performance of different vendors in the
supply chain has the ability to push blockchain into the equation where it would not otherwise happen organically."

26

JULY/AUGUST 2019

Nathan Trail

Senior Manager, Technology Policy
Consumer Technology Association
We need public policy that will allow blockchain to thrive.
Instead of regulating blockchain technology as a whole, it
makes more sense to regulate blockchain-enabled functions.
It's important for industry to work with policymakers to help
them understand future applications of this technology, and
to understand what type or regulatory adjustments (if any)
need to be made so these applications can be utilized."

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N
i3 - July/August 2019

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