How Carry Protocol Is Making Offline Shopping Sexy Again
Have you ever experienced having your wallet stuffed full with loyalty and membership cards from a bunch of offline stores? Or having rewards programs that don’t feel that rewarding in the first place?
Carry Protocol is going to change all that.
Who, or what, is Carry Protocol?
Before I answer that, let me ask one more question: Are you sick and tired of being bombarded with generic advertisements that aren’t even catered to your wants and needs? Like you’re just another set of eyes big companies want to shove their ads up against?What if you’re presented only offerings that are catered to your interests, based on your regular shopping habits and lifestyle? What kind of food you like, if you prefer non-fat milk with your latte, or if that shirt comes in black.Now- bear with me here before you mention about data privacy protection- what if this is all anonymous? No personal info needed other than your phone number.
And the best part?
You get PAID for it.
Ok, you have my attention. Tell me more.
Carry Protocol does several things:
1) Develop a platform for merchants to better understand their customers’ shopping behavior (both frequent and new ones alike), enabling them to target their advertisements efficiently and effectively.
2) Enable consumers to control their own transaction and behavioral data and monetize the level of information shared out.
They are touted as the forefront of the ‘Korean Offline Data Revolution’ in which they are taking data that brick-and-mortar stores practically hoard to themselves and making sure everyone is on a level playing field. Carry Protocol is also aiming to develop an environment where its merchant network is incentivized.As customers, you will be incentivized as well, to share your shopping transaction and behavioral data using an anonymous blockchain-based address.
So you mentioned about getting paid?
Carry Protocol have not one, but two forms of tokens:
1) CRE Token: Pronounced as ‘carry’, CRE is the main token in the Carry Protocol. Consumers can use it as a currency to pay merchants within the Carry ecosystem. Merchants use it to create branded tokens or smart contracts. Consumers receive CRE from third party advertisers, as payment for accessing the consumers’ transaction data blockchains. And this is all achieved without lifting the veil of anonymity.
2) BT Token: Branded Token, which are similar to loyalty points (think StarCoins for Starbucks, or WooshCoins for Nike, for example). Consumers can earn BTs simply by providing their phone numbers to the merchants when making a purchase. Carry Protocol’s CEO Grant Sohn describes it as rewards on steroids.
When a customers buys an item at a store supporting Carry Protocol, merchants need to give BT tokens to the customers ALONG with CRE tokens. So merchants are ‘paying’ the customers back -that’s you- for sharing their purchasing habits and sending you ads that cater directly to you.
Alright, so they’re a startup, right? That means they’re most likely not going to last long?
For some startups, yes.
Not for Carry Protocol. Why’s that, you ask?
They Stand on The Shoulders of Giants
What’s unique about Carry Protocol is that they are operated by the co-founders of Spoqa, Korea’s largest brick-and-mortar rewards platform with rock-solid foundations and an impressive portfolio to match.
Spoqa already has an established platform of customer-facing tablets installed in over 10,000 stores across Korea alone for use with their Dodo Point loyalty service.
The Carry Protocol will be launched on these tablets with an effortless update that won’t take merchants more than a few minutes to complete. This, coupled with South Korea being already crypto and Point-Of-Sales friendly will guarantee a great start to Carry Protocol once it goes online.
They're backed by top-tier investors
So why even start this up?
Because as much as online shopping has grown as an industry over the past few years, it still pales in comparison to offline brick-and-mortar stores, by a factor of almost 90%. In my country of Malaysia, this is clearly reflected where shopping malls remain the no.1 social hub with more malls popping up as we speak.
Carry Protocol seeks to turn users into partners, by letting you choose how much data you wish to share- Hi, Medium, or Low, and reward you accordingly. And all this, without ever needing to download an app, or have a membership card tucked somewhere in your pockets.
So are you going to use Carry Protocol?
You can bet your bottom dollar I will, once they reach Malaysian shores. Not only that, I’m going to be investing in them as well. They will be having their ICO (Initial Coin Offering) soon where you can purchase their tokens which in turn, can be used either in offline stores as a form of currency or be used in the exchange to trade for other cryptocurrencies.
Where can I find out more about them?
You can check out their introduction video here:
So what’s the final verdict?
Carry Protocol is definitely going to make waves when it goes live. Whether you’re interested in it as a customer, merchant, advertiser or investor, you can only stand to gain from putting your faith (and money) in them.
You Got a link to their website?
Here you go.
Thanks for the in depth coverage of thr carry protocol @leonwoon. I have a few questions:
The blockchain will start in Korea at first as it is Spoqa's base of operations and the founders of both Spoqa and Carry Protocol wish to start small at first with their most loyal merchants. This is to prevent Carry Protocol from overextending themselves too fast, I assume.
As for the why this needs to be a blockchain, in my personal opinion it has to do with the anonymity and cyber security that only the blockchain technology can provide to ensure the data protection of all parties involved. This is to especially guarantee the peace-of-mind for the consumers who are voluntarily providing data and information and to be targeted for advertisements.
The shopping experience would be greatly augmented in several aspects, one of them being that with a universal and seamless rewards program, for one thing the inconvenience of having to carry around so many different coupons, membership cards and stamp cards will be virtually eliminated. Another aspect would be an advertising and promotional platform that is catered specifically to each and every individual. For example, you would be receiving promotions and discounts just in time for lunch at the places you usually frequent, and you'll be rewarded for your patronage with not just one but two types of tokens, so the layperson can really feel the difference in how much they are rewarded compared to any other loyalty programs out there in the market.
Many thanks for asking these questions and showing your interest in Carry, do let me know if you have anything else you'd like to inquire! :)
Just a heads up on those interested to buy the ICO
Carry protocol pre-sale starting on 24/6 - 8/7 , KYC registration is open for registration now
Looks interesting however the complexity of the implementation is going to take a long time as merchants needs time to adapt to new systems and consumers on boarding will take a lot of advertising.
The concept sounds great no doubt.
I reckon that's why there starting out small with merchants in Korea that already have the Dodo system implemented, since it only takes minutes for them to set up.
I reckon once this hits the mainstream and begins to take traction, more offline retail outlets will jump on board once they see how benefits outweigh the implementation cost
A blockchain-based proof-of-identity loyalty points system. Though the challenge will be to have it integrated to brick and mortar stores that are more often than not laggers in tech adoption.
The idea is certainly interesting.
Edit: @buzz.lightyear also brought out 2 interesting points. There is no mention of which blockchain will they bootstrap the protocol on, as well as the logic behind adopting a blockchain database when a typical centralized database would make work far easier with none of the challenges of a blockchain.