INTRODUCTION
The online and mobile commerce market have continued to grow exponentially over the last few years, yet, they have still failed to displace the offline market which has continued to dominate the commerce sector as shown by a study at AT Kearney. This fact has led some big names in the online market sphere to branch out to the offline market alternative by setting up actual, physical stores.
But, the fact that the offline market is the leader of the commerce sector doesn't mean that they are 100% efficient or perfect. They still have problems and issues that are yet to be addressed. Prominent among these problems are the high costs of ad campaigns on the side of the offline market, the lack of absolute control consumers have over their data.
This is where Carry comes in. Simply put, Carry is a platform that connects merchants and consumers by using the blockchain technology.
THE CARRY PROTOCOL AIM
The Carry team aims to improve the offline commerce market by using the blockchain technology to solve the above mentioned issues. The team is rich in experience through conducting business in the offline market sector and racking up a huge consumer base in turn. Their strategy to achieve this aim is to :
Provide a platform for merchants to understand their customers and communicate.
Enable consumers to control their personal data and monetize their information.
Offer a new advertising channel that is effective and transparent.
SCENARIO
A customer makes a purchase from an offline store in the Carry protocol (merchants must be equipped with a special interactive device like a tablet enabled to use Carry Protocol) ,using a card, currency or cryptocurrency, the customer receives loyalty points in form of Branded Tokens unique to the store. The customer is then able to upload this transaction data to the blockchain to earn CRE tokens which are the Carry protocol tokens, thereby encouraging more uploads. These uploads help to advertise the offline stores and in turn gives the customer relevant product ads.
BENEFITS TO EACH PARTY
Customer : is rewarded for buying from merchants that use the Carry Protocol, and for uploading the transaction data to the blockchain and accepting advertisements, in BTs and CREs respectively.
Merchants/Store : the above benefits to the customers endures their loyalty and makes them want to come back, thereby providing a steady stream of customers. The distributed BTs can also help merchants know more about the preferences of the customers and help to satisfy them better.
Advertiser : using the Carry Protocol, they are able to monitor the effectiveness of their ads.
The above benefits have helped to take care of the previously mentioned problems by helping merchant's ads to reach the targeted consumers and helping the consumers have absolute control over their personal data and even earning rewards from it.
PARTNERSHIP
Carry Protocol has chosen to run with Sqopa which operates Dodo Point, a customer-facing tablet based loyalty platform for SMB merchants. Sqopa has had a good track record and have also partnered with notable names in commerce like Facebook, Nike, LINE etc.
TOKEN GENERATION EVENT
Carry Tokens (CRE) are issued to develop Carry Protocol and build its ecosystem.10 billion tokens will be issued, 40% of which will be made available to TGE participants. About 25% of the tokens will be for the partner program mentioned above (4.2), 15% for market activation such as airdrop for merchants and consumers, 10% for the Carry Team that is working to build the ecosystem, 5% for advisors helping to launch Carry Protocol, and 5% as reserve.
CONCLUSION
The Carry Protocol offers an answer to the some of the important problems that has continued to plague the offline commerce market by eliminating the advertisement companies that served as a medium for connecting with the consumers and also developing a deeper relationship and synergy between the merchants and the consumers.
The Carry Protocol is also a viable idea because of their well chosen strategic partner which would go a long way in supporting the project.
Roadmap
Team
For more information on the Carry Protocol, read more using the following links :
Website - https://carryprotocol.io
Telegram - https://t.me/carryprotocol
Twitter - https://twitter.com/carryprotocol
Whitepaper- https://carryprotocol.io/static/docs/Carry_protocol-white_paper%28ENG%29.pdf?
Author's Name: Balogun Jorge