Retail behemoth Walmart has filed a patent for a blockchain-based digital marketplace to resell purchased products, as part of its efforts to expand digital services to retail customers.
In a filing released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company outlines a blockchain ledger that can track items that have been sold to particular customers. The proposed system will act like a digital marketplace, where a customer could register an item after it's been bought and then choose a price for resale.
"With increasing competition from non-traditional shopping mechanisms, such as online shopping provided by e-commerce merchants and alternative store formats, it can be important for "bricks and mortar" retailers to focus on improving the overall customer experience and/or convenience," it said in the document.
Customers may not necessarily be interested in possessing a purchased item for its entire lifespan and want to resell. Such customers are left to their own devices to arrange for a subsequent resale of their purchased items, the document noted.
A distributed delivery record blockchain updates every transaction as the products are purchased, sold to customers, and handled by couriers. It also provides an opportunity to resell it via a sales platform operated on behalf of the enterprise.
"By one approach the control circuit is further configured to interface with the particular customer to register that customer's purchase of this particular item. That interface may be conducted, for example, via a point-of-sale interface, a browser-based interface, a mobile device app-based interface, and so forth," it said.
The patent was filed in November 2017. Over the years, the retailer reportedly has filed for a number of blockchain patents, which are yet to be applied into its operations.
In March, Walmart applied for Smart Package that employs a Blockchain-based tool to track package contents, environmental conditions, location, and other details.
The retailer is also said to have drafted two patent applications recently that refer to a platform powered by blockchain technology for vendor payments and digital shopping.
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