Foresight 23: Improving transparency with digital product IDs + how “on-the-street” shopping will become a retail category of its own
A newsletter diving into the concepts, people and brands shaping the future of retail, entertainment and connectivity.
Welcome back to Foresight!
In today’s edition, we’re talking about how digital IDs have the power to keep brands connected to their products post-sale and in circulation longer. Startup Eon is looking to create a shared ecosystem of products but this will require the entire industry to get on board.
We’re also covering an excellent piece from Forbes on retail's upcoming category, “on-the-street” shopping. Read on to learn more.
Questions or comments? Reply to this email—let’s chat!
IDEAS, INSIGHTS & FORWARD-THINKING PERSPECTIVES
Digital IDs: Transparency, new revenue streams and a shared ecosystem
Eon, a startup that aims to allow brands to follow products past the point of sale using digital IDs, is helping brands answer a question they’re unable to answer: what happens to a product after being delivered to a customer or carried out of a store? “The moment a product is sold, the brand no longer recognizes it as an asset,” says Natasha Franck, founder and CEO of Eon. The goal is improved traceability and to help create new revenue streams for brands. “We embed digital IDs in products so that brands don’t lose the future potential to generate revenue and data,” explains Franck. To establish the type of ecosystem Eon is aiming for, assisting brands in going beyond understanding where a product goes post-sale and creating a network of partners, Eon must convince brands, third-party partners and consumers that digital IDs are vital, and they aren’t the only ones. Competitors such as Evrything, Aura Blockchain Consortium and Arianee are looking to do the same.
In the near future, brands might be required by law to use digital IDs. The EU recently published its strategy for sustainable and circular textiles in hopes of legislative changes to lessen textile waste and better align the industry with the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. “Digital IDs are going to be required by policy,” says Franck. “Without them, there’s no ability to hold brands accountable because we don’t have post-sale data.” Eon is able to share real-time environmental impact reports on every product that has an ID from the cloud-based profile where data is stored. By staying connected to products post-sale, digital IDs also become a potential revenue stream from the resale model. “We have billions of products being produced, and an industry model that incentivizes volume,” says Franck. “Digital IDs allow brands to switch that model and generate more revenue from a single physical good across its lifecycle.”
One of the biggest challenges for Eon and similar companies is the goal of connectivity. “If this system is to work at scale, brands will all need to operate on a standardized platform, with a common data language to communicate and exchange product data across the ecosystem.” To keep products connected throughout their entire lifestyle, Eon is looking for interoperability, “meaning that product data can be exchanged between business models, applications and hardware, including resellers, recyclers and Web3 platforms.” To attain Eon’s ultimate vision, the industry as a whole will need to come together to build a shared ecosystem.
“On the street” shopping
As we’ve talked about many times here, retail is on the verge of a shift that is comparable to how online shopping dramatically changed the industry. Emerging technologies in AR will allow consumers to take the shopping experience to the next level giving shoppers the ability to access information available online while simultaneously having the advantages of in-person shopping. “On the street” shopping will effectively merge online and IRL shopping to create consumers empowered with more information than ever before. Although there is much speculation as to when this will become a reality, many major tech companies are putting massive investments toward moving AR forward. With many working on their own version of AR glasses, general AR capabilities are already readily available.
What does this mean for retailers? Powerful AR capabilities are available on mobile phones right now, but more recently, the capabilities of computer vision and AI is what has changed the game allowing devices to process video locally and comprehend the world in real-time. By instantly being able to identify, understand and track objects, AR systems have the critical ability to understand what a user is looking at, unlocking massive opportunities. Although similar to the promise of QR codes in retail, AR puts the consumer in control. Through an AR-app let’s say, you could be on the street and with a quick scan of a pair of cool sneakers, the app could arrange delivery of the same or similar pair. Given the pace of emerging AR tech, it’s easy to envision how the end-to-end retail experience can occur neither in front of a computer or in-store, making “on the street” shopping a retail category of its own.
It’s obvious AR is coming to the shopping experience in some form. It may not be exactly clear what AR-enabled retail will look like just yet but in the meantime, some important questions retailers can ask themselves could be: how do you use this technology to your advantage? How can AR improve the retail experience you’re offering? What could encourage a customer to download an app and hold up their phone during their in-store experience? “Consider the possibility of even having in-store “scavenger hunts” that allow users to unlock deals based on the number of products they examine in detail.” There are several experiences that can be created in the store to make AR-based shopping fun. Thinking about this now will offer “critical insight needed to compete in the retail world when AR glasses are mainstream and all consumers are AR-enabled by default.”
WHAT I’M READING
Token-gated websites are Web3’s virtual velvet rope
NYX partners with 3D artists on first beauty DAO
Proofs of attendance are Web3’s new status symbol
A perfume in the metaverse? Byredo and Rtfkt bet on visual “aura”
The new virtual economy of the metaverse
Will AR change the way we live with technology?
Meta’s avatars just got a fashion upgrade with DressX