How to increase revenue in ecom with Web3
From the first time someone sold something to a client, the quest to remove friction from the exchange started.
Each tech advance has brought *some* level of improvement. But even in the current state of tech, we still find ourselves doing pesky card validations, currency swaps, discount calculations and multiple other steps in never-ending flows that can turn potential clients away and lead to an ever-increasing number of abandoned carts.
So, how can Web3 help increase your revenue and sales?
What is Web 3
If you clicked on this article, you already know what Web3 is. On the off chance you don't, we'll keep it very simple:
Web 1 was the "original" site-based internet. It was static pages with limited functionality.
Web 2 is the current state of the web, with web apps and SaaS being offered over domains and complex services being a usual part of your day-to-day experience on the web.
Web 3 is closer to the original dream of having a decentralized internet.
What would happen if you didn't need to keep any customer information in your DBs?
What if you could point to an address that represents the user instead of keeping countless sensitive data?
That is, in its very essence, the promise of Web 3. An app that integrates with users who bring their data with them.
Maybe this sounds too confusing right now but bear with us. It gets better.
How do users bring their data to Web 3 apps?
You might have heard the crypto crowd talk about 'wallets'. While one might think these are akin to a physical wallet, they are much more than a place to hold your cash (or tokens/coins).
Effectively, a wallet is an address. It's an address of a specific link in a chain of data.
What the address contains will vary based on what the chain use case is. It can be almost anything you can potentially represent with text and numbers. Considering our current digital world, it's quite a bit!
A wallet can have tokens that represent something in a given system. It can also have user data, a digital representation of the user. It can hold state about that address concerning other addresses, etc.
The promise of dapps (decentralized apps) is that once you can integrate with a blockchain that your system works with, users can interact with your app without you having to hold any credentials for said user.
While this might sound like a nightmare, it is beneficial for companies willing to adopt the technology.
It's especially true when you implement Web 3 in your ecommerce site.
Main benefits of Web 3 for ecommerce sites
As we alluded to, one of the big ones is the increased security and privacy for your users.
You don't need to worry about leaking information if there is no information about your users to hold!
We all heard the horror stories of very sensible data leaked by big companies and the fines they had to pay. These leaks are never an issue in Web 3.
Your user is in charge of keeping their transactions and interactions safe. The information exchange between a dapp and a user happens, but there is no handover from the user to the company of their credentials.
It empowers the users to be in charge of their privacy and protects the company from worrying about potential leaks.
A second close one is the improved user experience in LOTS of aspects. Connecting to a dapp is as easy as navigating to a dapp site and authorizing your 'wallet' or digital identity to connect to the site.
It is seamless and done in one click (or tap).
Once the dapp and the wallet are connected, nothing extra is required from the user for the dapp and the wallet to interact.
As you can imagine, this is hugely beneficial for lots of purposes. As a user, not having to remember ONE MORE user/password combo is a big one.
There is an even more important one, and the core of our thesis on why Web 3 can increase your ecommerce revenue on the same magnitude of scale as that of when Web 2 apps became a thing:
If the user holds sufficient funds/tokens valid in your system as a potential payment method, transactions are almost instant.
You don't need weird third-party apps to guarantee the safety of your payments (PayPal, virtual debit cards, etc.), as the transactions are done on the chain and only between two valid addresses (the wallet and you).
It can make payments happen almost instantly without even thinking about it twice. It's similar to in-app purchases in games but even better. You don't need to worry about setting a card in your account, checking the validity of said card, worrying about the client denying the charge later, etc.
It is effectively the promise of the mythical frictionless payment fulfilled. Instant transactions with no additional checks needed, which you can guarantee were between the digital ID of your user and your store. It Doesn't get much better than that!
How to integrate your ecommerce with Web 3 wallets
In principle, integration can be as simple as only enabling your app to take payments via your compatible chain or as complex as developing your ecosystem with its logic, transactions, tokens and information you want to store in the chain.
There are vast examples of companies adopting Web 3 for different purposes, from using it as a membership ID to selling and distributing collectables from their brand.
How you leverage Web 3 in your project is up to you. However, in this article, our focus was on ecommerce implementations. In that spirit, we think the biggest bang for your buck would be integrating wallet payments into your app.
For the reasons mentioned throughout the article, this is where Web 3 shines for ecommerce and where it can help you increase your revenue the most.
As secondary implementations, we love what can be done in the form of storing a digital profile of your user in a chain, sending selected users tokens as rewards, and potentially giving them a collectable that they can use as a profile picture. The applications are endless!
A well-structured loyalty program can do wonders and is easy to implement in your chain.
What are the potential downsides of implementing Web 3 in ecommerce sites?
The main downside of implementing Web 3 technology in your ecommerce site is that it's still relatively new. The ecosystems around it are not as robust as older tech.
Let's face it. For all its faults and reputation, PayPal has been around for a long time. They know what they are doing.
The Blockchain technology which powers Web 3 is not a new concept. Distributed data storage has been around for a long time, but it took time for hardware to catch up and make it a reality.
While we've had a lot of blockchain exposure from the mainstream media in the last 12 years, adoption is still not widespread. However, it keeps growing every day. Most governments are exploring digital currencies, so total adoption is not out of the question.
Final thoughts
We hope this article has shown what Web 3, blockchain and decentralized apps can do for your ecommerce website.
If you are curious about the possibilities of this exciting new tech and are ready to take advantage of it for your business, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments.