Why You Should Be Using The Blockchain For ECommerce

You don’t even have to know how to trade Bitcoin to take advantage of all the benefits of using the blockchain. In the last ten years, there have been a lot of developments that make blockchain technology useful for many different things and anybody can take advantage of it. 

In this article, I will go over exactly how your e-commerce store can be using the blockchain right away. 

Supply chain logistics

If you are doing your own storing and shipping of products then managing the supply chain is very costly and complicated. Until now that is. You can use the blockchain for your inventory and even your shipping logistics. 

Usually, there is a long and complex paperwork trail that has to be registered for every step of your supply chain from the manufacturing to the shipping. Keeping track of this is confusing and involves a lot of different people needing to coordinate. Instead, when it is on the blockchain it is immediately available for everybody along the chain to see. 

The biggest benefit is the transparency of the blockchain but staying secure at the same time. Even though everybody along the chain has access to the documentation, nothing can be altered in any way. The blockchain is immutable and very secure as a result. 

Even smaller sellers that can’t ask their manufacturer to switch to the blockchain can use it for their shipping process to have it completely streamlined. Thanks to the Internet of Things, the blockchain has become a very potent tool because of the ability for devices to communicate with each other. 

Payments

The most obvious way to take advantage of the technology of the blockchain is to accept cryptocurrency as payment. In fact, it is essential in this day and age for your e-commerce site to accept Bitcoin and other altcoins. 

You could end up expanding your market by doing so. Not everybody wants to use their credit card and there are just as many that don’t have one at all. For those people, having a way to easily, cheaply, and anonymously make a purchase is very attractive. 

Taking these payments could easily set you apart from your competition. 

Expands your market

Beyond just accepting payments to expand your market, the actual technology itself can be used to build your business. 

For instance, if you want to make sure that your product is not copied so you can avoid having sales get siphoned off by pirates or copycats, then the blockchain can be used to set up a hub for your intellectual property. 

Having a smart contract that establishes the IP is a silver bullet in court when you are trying to establish the timeline of when you created your product. 

*This article has been contributed on behalf of Paxful. However, the information provided herein is not and is not intended to be, investment, financial, or other advice.