Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is having a heck of a time competing with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and it’s largely because of the convenience of online shopping that Amazon offers.
Refusing to be outdone by the online retailer, Walmart has applied for two Blockchain-related patents to aid in handling customer data.
While Walmart offers online shopping, it’s unable to offer one-day, or same-day, shipping as Amazon can. Walmart offers two-day shipping.
Blockchain technology could help it set up systems that address this disadvantage. One of the patent applications is for a vendor payment sharing system, while the other is for a courier shipping system.
Both applications were published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday.
Let’s discuss these patent applications.
Vendor payment sharing system
As noted above, one of the areas where Amazon is beating Walmart hands down is online.
In its patent application for a vendor payment sharing system, Walmart acknowledges the draw of online shopping, but says people still like shopping brick-and-mortar stores.
Many store customers prefer to shop online, while other store customers prefer to be physically present at a brick-and-mortar when shopping referred to as being offline. These customers enjoy walking about the store, perusing items of interest, etc. Other customers may shop at a store out of necessity since they do not own a home computer or smartphone, or have access to an internet service.
The system will work by allowing customers to use whatever computing device they have, such as their mobile phone, to access and retrieve their purchase details from Walmart.
The patent application explains that customers will be able to access their data from Walmart servers, which is programmed to:
- receive from the customer computing device an acceptance indication of the products delivered from a courier service;
- automatically process payment for a total amount due for the products and services related to obtaining and delivering the products;
- automatically divide the payment between parties that provided services related to obtaining and delivering the products; and encrypt the payment and the division of the payment with a Blockchain.
Courier shopping system
This system is meant to aid customers in online shopping. Walmart seems to understand that when people order online, they want their packages yesterday, meaning they want them as soon as possible.
This is an area where Amazon dominates because it can get packages to its customers as soon as the same day the order it.
In its patent application, Walmart states:
Online customers enjoy a customized and expedient shopping experience that is typically not offered at a brick-and-mortar store. For example, online customers can order items online at any time, thereby avoiding the time-consuming effort of being physically present at the store to select items of interest from shelves and waiting in line at the store checkout to purchase the items especially at peak times.
Also, online customers typically have immediate access to their purchase history, and can receive a display of recommended items for purchase based on shopping patterns or other purchase history information, the retailer notes in the patent application.
PYMNTS.com reported that Walmart was likely to develop its own Blockchain platform to enable tracking of these “smart packages.” This comes about two years after reports surfaced that Walmart was testing the Blockchain in the grocery aisle. According to Bloomberg, sliced apples and cut broccoli were used to test a Blockchain database technology.
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