PLAZA - Project Review Part 2
Plaza is a decentralized e-commerce ecosystem that has been created to utilize the blockchain technology in finding solutions to the present challenges encountered by people in the e-commerce marketplace. Plaza does this, while also providing a decentralized solution that is user-friendly.
Quick Recap
Over the past decade, E-commerce has played a vital role in our lives but users are still encountered with problems of cost, privacy, and security. Cryptocurrencies on the other have is an innovative technology with endless possible applications to real-life scenarios, the technicalities of this technology in this early years is a major drawback. Plaza Systems through the plaza decentralized platform has provided solutions to these problems.
In the "Part 1" of this series, I made an introduction of the plaza decentralized project, by explaining what plaza is all about, the problems it has been created to solve and the amazing solutions that will be introduced through the blockchain technology.
In this article, however, I will be explaining the user touchpoints and the major actors in the plaza ecosystem, how why this fits realistically into our daily lives.
E-commerce Ecosystem
The term e-commerce is something that almost everyone has heard of at a particular point In time, but often times when a person hears of e-commerce he/she automatically thinks about Aliexpress, Ebay, Amazon and the likes. These companies are however just a part of the whole ecosystem, which is much larger and with a lot of actors in-play to keep it running at the optimum capacity and deliver to customers all around the world.
An ideal e-commerce ecosystem consists of different interconnected businesses and systems. Some of the components of a typical e-commerce ecosystem include:
- E-commerce Platform
- Payment Gateway
- Accounting Software
- Online Marketing
- Shipping Software
- Inventory Management System (IMS)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Marketplaces
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- Channel Management Software
Source: Ecomsultant
Each one of these components has a huge role to play in the success of an ideal e-commerce ecosystem and all these come at a cost, costs which are charged from the customers' payments.
E-commerce ecosystems generally vary in size and structure and thus some of these components are in-existent in some e-commerce ecosystems. The diagrams below, show illustrations of different e-commerce ecosystems.
Source: Ecomsultant
Source: Ecomsultant
Why Blockchain Solutions Are Behind (so far)
There has been a massive increase in the number of companies offering decentralized solutions to different problems using the blockchain and a few of them has been aimed at providing e-commerce solutions. Most of these blockchain platforms have good concepts, however, but a lot of them have failed due to laying too much emphasis on creating a reward system for their users, rather than actually solving the problems at hand.
The Plaza Ecosystem
Plaza is a well-planned platform that uses the blockchain as an infrastructure to create an innovative e-commerce ecosystem, an interconnected network consisting of different actors and components that is focused on providing solutions to the problems faced by consumers in the e-commerce ecosystem.
What The Plaza Ecosystem Offer
Firstly plaza ecosystem will be operating in a dual currency system. This is due to the highly volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. This volatility creates a problem for both the sellers and consumers in a marketplace, because, in reality, no one wants to pay ridiculously over or accept below the value of the products in question, and no buyers or sellers will make transactions for his or her products in a currency he or she knows can lose its value any day.
Plaza ecosystem will operate with a native plaza utility token, which will be the driver of the ecosystem, and a fiat backed plaza dollar (PL$) to be used in the marketplace.
Source: Whitepaper
Explained below are the different components and actors of the plaza ecosystem:
Ecosystem Actors
Plaza Foundation: The plaza foundation will be in direct interaction with the plaza platform, chatbots, and miners, in order to keep them functioning at maximum capacity. The foundation is responsible for making necessary updates and upgrades to the platform and chatbots, easing the transaction process between the buyers and sellers as well as an automated chatbot assistance. The foundation is also responsible for overseeing mining operations of the ecosystem's miners.
Plaza Platform: This is the e-commerce marketplace that the sellers and buyers interact directly with, for the promotion and purchase of their goods and services. The plaza platform is also responsible for generating rewards in PLAZA tokens for both the sellers and buyers for their contributions in growing the ecosystem.
Sellers: This is the individuals, group or businesses that offer their goods or services in exchange for PL$ and potential PLAZA rewards on the ecosystem. Put simply, they are the sellers of products.
Consumers: This is the normal guy who uses the Internet for their e-commerce needs and will be purchasing the goods and services available on the marketplace, making payments with PL$. Consumers also get rewarded with PLAZA tokens for their contribution to growing the ecosystem.
Miners: These are the people responsible for mining plaza tokens and transactions that keep the ecosystem running.
Arbitrators: In the plaza ecosystem, the arbitrators settles disputes between consumers and sellers in a decentralized way, In order to prevent a party from cheating the other, and make necessary refunds required cases.
Chatbots: This is an automated support that helps the sellers and users through the marketplace and also serves the purpose of automated dispute resolutions. Private chats with the chat bots provide help of just about any nature needed on the marketplace, with simple quick and easy to understand responses.
Source: Whitepaper
Ecosystem Components
Plaza Multi-Currency Wallet: The PlazaWallet is a decentralized, easy-to-use wallet that is synchronized with the users' devices and is fully encrypted on the client side enabling users to easily create, manage and use wallets. With the plaza wallet, the private keys, public keys, and transactions are encrypted on the users' device ensuring security as well as privacy.
Plaza Mobile and Desktop Applications: The plaza platform already delivered on its promise of easy to use applications that enable users to access and pay for goods and services offered on the e-commerce marketplace. Plaza Android and iOS mobile applications have already been produced and tested in Q3 2017.
One of the amazing things about this application is that there is no need to download the blockchain on the device in question, this application interacts with the marketplace and blockchain in the same way every normal e-commerce application will with its marketplace but with even better security and privacy.
Plaza Card: The plaza card works like the normal debit and credit cards, it allows its users to spend cryptocurrency in their daily activities with the same ease that comes with the fiat based cards. Plaza card can be used to spend cryptocurrencies in merchant shops or online and can be used to withdraw fiat from affiliated ATM's. However even though multiple currencies can be stored on the plaza wallets, only the PLAZA and PL$ tokens will be accessible on the plaza card.
Plaza Concierge and Mining Assistant: The plaza concierge is a smart speaker which serves multiple purposes, firstly it works as a user interaction and notification assistant, then it functions as a miner which mines PLAZA and PL$ tokens continuously around the clock and finally, unlike the smart speakers available in the market today which mines users personal data and information, the plaza concierge acts as an added layer security for its users, protecting their private keys and ensuring their privacy from online data miners.
Plaza Merchant: The plaza merchant serves as a physical over the counter way for topping up PLAZA and PL$ tokens, this offers a more convenient way for users to top-up their plaza wallets especially for users who do not want to use exchanges.
Final Word
Using plaza will be easier and better compared to the other decentralized e-commerce solutions, and with more adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology plaza will play a central role in the e-commerce marketplace, offering users and sellers more for the goods and services they exchange.
The plaza wallet, card, and applications are synchronized and offer on-chain, physical and online cross-integration in a manner that appeals to the consumers due to its numerous benefits which include security, rewards, and ease of use.
With plaza, users will not have to learn how complexities of cryptocurrency market and also not worry about the devaluation of the tokens they use in the buying and selling of goods on the marketplace. Additionally, more convenience is added with the concierge, chatbot, and merchants all in the quest to make this a consumer-friendly ecosystem.
Plaza is a revolutionary platform and with transaction speeds that surpasses all of its blockchain peers by miles, this is definitely the future of b-commerce (Blockchain Commerce).
Disclaimer
This article has been written as a review of Plaza blockchain project for promotional purpose. The content of this article is a review of the project added with my personal insights from my understanding and research on blockchain and e-commerce.
I am not an investment advisor and I strongly recommend that you make your personal research, and consult your legal and financial advisers before participating in ICOs. Cryptocurrencies carry a certain level of risk, so make sure you understand the laws that apply to blockchain projects in your jurisdiction.
Official Contacts and Materials
Website: https://www.plaza.systems/
Whitepaper: https://www.plaza.systems/whitepaper/
Onepager: https://www.plaza.systems/one-pager/
Plaza Team: https://www.plaza.systems/team/
Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/plazatalk/
Telegram Business Discussion Group: https://t.me/plazabiz/
Telegram Announcement Channel: https://t.me/plazainfo/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/PlazaSystems/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5C06Ma-O6-bqgJ76GogBMw
GitHub: https://github.com/plaza-systems/
Medium: https://medium.com/plaza-systems/
Flipboard: https://flipboard.com/@PlazaSystems/
References
- Derrick Chan. (2015). Intro To ECommerce Ecosystem - Ecomsultant [online] Available at: https://ecomsultant.com/intro-to-ecommerce-ecosystem/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2018].
- Plaza | Freedom Lifestyle. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.plaza.systems/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2018].
- Plaza | Freedom Lifestyle. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.plaza.systems/whitepaper/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].
- Plaza | Freedom Lifestyle. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.plaza.systems/one-pager/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].
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