It has been established that, in order to deliver a truly omnichannel experience, retailers must integrate data collected across all channels – but this is easier said than done. While it has become relatively easy to collect and analyze online shopping information, the difficulty increases every time we add a new channel to our digital lives, such as smart watches and voice assistants.
General data and in-store purchasing behavior also became harder to track, although omnichannel retailers try to solve this problem by integrating points of sale and customer relationship management information. Complementing these initiatives, new technologies like blockchain can be used to enhance multichannel analysis and hence omnichannel consumer participation.
Blockchain is able to record the information exchanged between users and retailers and allows the use of this open data on an even larger scale. Imagine being able to combine private databases from banking institutions, credit card companies and retailers.
Since each consumer authorizes the union of their data to the chain and controls who can see this information and to what extent. Authorized access retailers can gain insight into their omnichannel customers and deliver the most exciting products, all in real time.
This technology can help retailers better understand their consumers, as well as position shoppers to make smarter purchases by knowing the products they are seeing and the companies that produce them in a whole new way. Blockchain also improves consumer confidence and brand transparency by enabling customers to verify the complete life cycle of a product.
You may know be thinking that this is indeed a great and useful technology but have no clue on how this can be applied in the real world. In truth, the paragraphs above are almost a perfect description of the way TAP Network functions, a recently launched universal rewards platform based on purchase data.
Harnessing the power of the blockchain technology, TAP Network allows customers to make purchases on the 250,000+ brand partners available in the platform, in a multitude of different areas and industries. All the information regarding those purchases is stored on the blockchain and, should users allow for it, it will be shared with those retailers for them to improve their processes.
When choosing to share that information, users are offered rewards, which they can then later redeem for discounts on those brands. For companies, this information is super useful, as it can be used to improve their strategies, have more targeted marketing, and so on.
While it is just an example, TAP Network gives us a clear insight on just how the blockchain technology can be used to streamline customer engagement, something that will surely happen more and more in the future.
