I wouldn’t have thought a new use case was needed for omnichannel, but this article in Forbes identifies a few edge cases that might argue it is. Of course if the merchant makes it a card-on-file transaction then the merchant can create its own contract if properly communicated to the consumer. So why not move the omnichannel consumer to a card-on-file relationship.
It’s worth noting that there wouldn’t be e-commerce without cards, and if the only real need are these edge cases then a smart contract on a blockchain using crypto, Libra or bitcoin, won’t be an effective answer:
Then along comes blockchain. So far, it has been a solution in search of a problem, at least as far as how it applies to business use. But forget about cryptocurrencies and their oft-repeated benefits of “stateless” currencies that could be used anywhere in the world, or that are supposedly anonymous and untraceable (they’re not, by the way).
Fundamentally, blockchain can be boiled down into three parts: a token, a contract, and a ledger. To me, the contract is the most interesting part of the three, because you can set up contracts to automatically do things based on new information that gets added to the chain. Containing this automation in a contract is what people mean when they start talking about “smart contracts”.
It’s not that far of a stretch to say that one basket and one swipe is a “contract” between the customer and the retailer. That if I buy a cranberry sweater to take home and a black one to be shipped to home, I’m committing to a payment now (cranberry) and a payment later (black), and that there are conditions on that second payment. Specifically, that the second part of the payment can be taken once a ship confirmation is posted to the chain, that the funds will indeed be held until that event happens, or that the funds will be automatically released if the item doesn’t ship within seven days, or whatever timeline the retailer cares to commit to. The token governs the payment part, so the retailer doesn’t have to hold the payment information – that is secured on the blockchain, the contract governs what requirements have to be hit for payments to be made, and the ledger keeps track of what is promised, what has been met, and what is still waiting to be met.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation at Mercator Advisory Group
