Making Retail Better with Private Blockchain Platform as a Service Today!

Have to start by saying executives shouldn’t let negative news reports on cryptocurrency blockchain issues dissuade them from investigating the potential benefits of this technology already available today in retail and other business sectors.

One other misguided challenge faced by innovators in this area comes from the global technology analyst firms who have recently been telling their clients that blockchain won’t be ready for use for 10 years!

Perhaps this is the case with public blockchains, where there remain a number of issues to still be resolved. However in the case of Private Blockchain Platform as a Service solutions, these have already been operating successfully at scale in major retail applications for over three years now!

So hope the above explains why we know that these private blockchain options are viable for retailers to adopt TODAY and now we will share specifics on how they can make your retail business better!

DIRECT COST SAVINGS?

Although there are numerous soft benefits to utilizing a private blockchain on a Platform as a Service basis, the most substantial of which and the first benefit we always highlight is cost savings!?

This is important as these savings can then form the foundation for other desired applications and based on our actual experience with KNNX Freight customers, a representative rule of thumb is the potential initial savings opportunity is roughly 5% of total freight spend.

For many retailers this can represent millions, if not tens of millions of potential savings, which as these are expense dollars will drop directly to your company’s bottom line profit!

SERVICE LEVEL VERIFICATION?

The measurement of actual service levels versus the contracted delivery timeframe is critical to ensure that both you and your customers are getting the service levels being paid for.

When it comes to the e-commerce delivery customer experience this is even more important and demanding due to its’ direct impact on the consumer.

And as the number of ecommerce delivery options continues to grow, the ability to utilize a private blockchain to bring together, and manage both the associated cost and service performance of all of these deliveries is paramount!

DIRECT TO STORE DELIVERY

Even though it can be both costly and complex, there's no doubt that Direct to Store Delivery or DSD is here to stay, especially to support omnichannel ecommerce, as well as numerous categories in the grocery retail business. What makes this so complex are the number of disparate companies which all need to be coordinated in order to optimize delivery and dock times across hundreds of stores ever day. Even more daunting is the ability to on the fly determine and communicate in real time any needed changes in these schedules out to all of the hundreds of brands, carriers and merchandisers who need to know updated and accurate information on these often fluid schedules.

SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE

In the competitive transportation business, many carriers utilize some form of supply chain finance through selling their accounts receivable to outside firms to get rapid or immediate funds for their invoices. For retailers this can open up the opportunity of directly offering to their carriers accelerated payments based on the provision of percentage rate discounts on their freight invoices. Again depending on your volume of freight spend, this can easily represent millions in potential transportation expense savings!

AUTOMATED GL CODING

Although not as dramatic as some of the above savings opportunities, every freight invoice your company pays requires the application of correct GL Codes for finance process processing and reporting purposes. If you inquire, you'll find someone in logistics and/or finance who's performing this mundane but necessary task. Utilizing a private blockchain solution with smart contracts can allow your company to easily automate this function eliminating costly administrative work and the potential for errors when done manually.

CONCLUSION AND CALL TO ACTION!

As someone who's been in retail for well over 30 years, I can tell you that every retailer has the opportunity to benefit from private blockchain and the above 5 savings sources. All I can recommend is that each of you just take a moment to reach out and get yourself educated on these new technologies and you'll be pleasantly surprised by their ability to improve your retail business today!

Cheers

Jeff Ashcroft

[email protected]

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