How is Blockchain Influencing the Retail Supply Chain?

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Managing the supply chain is an extremely complicated task as the stakeholders need to maintain paper-based trails.

Fremont, CA The supply chain envelopes many stages, numerous geographical locations, multiple stakeholders and entities, and a multitude of payments and invoices, depending on the type of products. Concerning the lack of transparency throughout the supply chain, blockchain provides an opportunity to transform the supply chain and logistics industry. Blockchain offers high security, and changing one block will result in a change in all blocks on the network, making it a problematic task for hackers to corrupt the blockchain ledger. Hence, blockchain can enhance the productivity and transparency of supply chains and affect everything from the warehouse to delivery and payment. With the use of blockchain, the chances of time delays, human errors, and added costs could also be cut down.The implementation of blockchain in the supply chain can enable the businesses to understand who are they dealing with, the source of the product, who processed or manufactured it, and evaluate the payment as well.There are huge benefits awarded by the implementation of blockchain in the supply chain.

• Provenance Tracking

Several multinational companies and big organizations do not possess backstories of their products in the supply chain due to the lack of traceability. It might lead to high costs and customer relations problems, harming the brand’s reputation. Adopting a blockchain solution, data sharing, record keeping, and provenance tracking becomes more straightforward and more effective. The transactions saved in the blockchain ledger cannot be wiped out or altered. The stakeholders and consumers both can trace the history of any product from its beginning to the last mile.

• Cost Devaluation

Blockchain enables real-time tracking of a product in the supply chain without the involvement of the mediators; the cost of the moving items can be cut down.The absence of the intermediaries from the process prevents extra costs, counterfeits, or frauds and cuts the probability of fraud products. In place of depending on financial intermediaries such as banks, payment can be carried out between the parties of the supply chain via crypto payments.

• Increased Transparency

Blockchain’s enduring ledger prevents information tampering and allows suppliers and retailers to view the point of origin for each other. Better visibility also entails that manufacturers can authenticate the inventory to combat counterfeit trade.

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