The Future of Retail, eCommerce, and Shopper Data Rights- Shopin’s Vision

How come online shopping so frustrating? Where is the convenience, choice, and personalization that shoppers were promised? Where is the technology that will let retailers deliver a more efficient, streamlined personal experience they know their customers want?

One of the many challenges facing today’s retailers is that they don’t have a full view or a true understanding of their shoppers’ purchasing behavior to understand what they’re interested in and truly want to buy. There is not enough sharing of information across multiple retailers, especially midsize and small retailers, so they often have to look to unreliable or outdated third-party data that can lead to faulty assumptions about customers’ shopping preferences. Additionally, retailers are forced to compete with a handful of retail and technology conglomerates like Amazon.com that have access to the lion’s share of information about where we shop and what we buy.

Amazon accounted for 44% of ecommerce in 2017, according to eMarketer, up from 38% the year before. Wall Street firm Needham predicts it will control more than half of all U.S. online sales by 2021. This control allows Amazon to offer customers personalized service and faster transactions, while earning higher margins, lowering marketing costs, and increasing market share.

We at Shopin believe that retail is ready for a revolution. In order to fix the broken state of today’s industry, shoppers must own and control their own data, and retailers must be given the tools and data access for a more equitable and sustainable retail economy.

By creating the world’s first decentralized shopper profile, we are empowering a retail paradigm that incentivizes both shoppers and retailers to work together for the most rewarding retail experience possible.

Combining the power of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and blockchain technology to store value, purchase, and shopper profile data, Shopin unites retailers and their customers through personalized data intelligence. Millions of data transactions per second allow retailers to scale for mass consumer adoption and deliver more accurate product recommendations, connect directly with shoppers, and provide more valuable offers and rewards. This means retailers get shopper-approved purchase history data in real-time and shopper-verified preferences to better understand their customers and the products they want to buy.

The end result? A significant increase in transactional conversions, a higher return on marketing investment, and improved customer margins. Just as importantly, our approach puts the ownership and control of data back in the shopper’s hands.
By setting up a Shopin Profile, consumers automatically store all their transaction and preference information on a secure blockchain database. They can keep the information completely private or choose to share it with retailers in return for personalized service and other benefits. Consumers can also use their Shopin Profile to monitor shipments, initiate returns, and share their wish lists with friends.

The Shopin Token is a digital currency that gives retailers a better way to deliver more personalized marketing offers and a better shopping experience. Our token creates a one-to-one economy of data between retailers and consumers for more personalized and efficient transactions. Retailers exchange tokens with consumers in return for access to their profile data, and for permission to send them marketing offers and rewards for loyalty. Consumers can exchange the tokens for merchandise at participating retailers or into Ether that, in turn, can be exchanged for Fiat or other cryptocurrencies.

Our platform enables every retailer to compete with Amazon through better data, more valuable rewards, and a stronger one-to-one connection between shoppers and retailers. Shoppers get the most personal shopping experience, and retailers can acquire new customers faster while driving long-term brand loyalty.

We are dedicated to the vision of creating a more sustainable retail economy where retailers become stronger by working together and shoppers get rewarded based on the value of data that they fully own, share, and control.

We’ve assembled a solid management team with deep industry knowledge and expertise across retail markets, ecommerce startups, behavioral marketing solutions, and data management technology. We also have a world-class advisory board, including prominent entrepreneurial investors and leaders in the blockchain and cryptocurrency markets. Our board offers us their expert perspectives and business insights to help fuel growth and continue to improve the retail and shopper experience.

Together with you — our community — we will solve the problems plaguing the retail industry and make shopping personal again. Thank you for joining us on this journey!