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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to use blockchain technology for its subsidiary Tmall Global. Tmall is reportedly running tests on a DLT based blockchain platform for using it to trace imported goods.
The tests include a system of image recognition and laser marks. The company wants to ensure the monitoring of delivery on every step if the process. The platform will act like an immigration office where imported goods will receive a ‘visa.’
How will the platform work?
The ‘visa’ feature will trace a QR code of imported goods foreign trading companies need to attach a QE code on top of the Good’s’ packaging, at the time when goods are bought. Certain data like the location, the time of purchase, etc., then needs to return on it for shipping.
When goods cross the Chinese border, buyers can access all the shipping details by simply using their smartphones to scan the QR code. Tmall wants to create these QR codes on its own. The process being tested will work in a similar way as VeChain’s RFID. As soon as the QR code is removed after delivery, it gets eliminated from the blockchain.
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These QR codes will not be reusable or replicable anymore after their elimination. They will also be laser marks and some other technologies which would help prevent the QR codes from being duplicated, copied or modified. The blockchain technology under examination will be reportedly used for high-end products and also the fashion industry.
Alibaba, however, is not the first e-commerce company to deploy blockchain technology for its tracking systems. In the recent pasts, JD.com, another e-commerce giant from China, implemented a tracking system based on distrusted ledger technology, commonly known as a blockchain. The platform enabled the e-commerce company to provide users with information about the product they were purchasing. This blockchain platform was specifically aimed at improving the quality of products consumed by buyers.
Alibaba’s team all is expected to launch the blockchain-based tracking system by the end of March this year, with the gradual introduction of all imported goods.
Market experts have long been expecting blockchain technology to revolutionize the e-commerce industry. The innovative technology has several aspects which can be a boon to eradicate nagging shortcomings of e-commerce.
One of the major concerns for e-commerce has been security and safety in online payments, apart from the transactional fees charged by payments servers blockchain creates a market place using fast, secure transactions for any e-commerce business model. This will eliminate the fees charged adding several layers of security that come from the blockchain structure.
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Similarly, data security, which is another weak point of e-commerce, can benefit a great deal from blockchain implementation. A decentralized platform of blockchain makes it virtually impossible to suffer attacks, making customer data absolutely secure.
Numerous concerns have been reported by consumers and retailers about the lack of transparency in the operations of e-commerce giants. Big players like Amazon are known for cutting direct contact between buyers and sellers and are also known for disabling merchant pages with insufficient explanation. Use of blockchain in e-commerce will also Bring much-needed transparency in the market, as blocks of information created cannot be tampered or erased.
