Retail and Food companies are starting to look at how the technology could revolutionise their end to end supply chain.
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Food can be traced back to its origin (for example right back to the fisherman who pulled a fish out of the sea) and (together with hardware technology such as RFID chips) can be traced through the supply chain in a secure and immutable way.
The technology can show not only the exact location of the product in real time but also where it has been, the checks it has passed and also information about the state of the product (e.g. which temperatures it has been exposed to) in a tamper and forgery-proof way. All of this can be accessed by the manufacturer/retailer and even the customer when they scan a code on the device at the end of the chain.
This approach will help to grow customer trust and brand reputation. There will also be improvements in supply chain efficiency and a reduction in risk. Businesses will have easy access to immutable evidence, allowing the easy resolution of disputes with transporters and manufacturers.
The luxury goods market has been one of the first to utilise blockchain in their supply chain. It’s easy to see how as this technology develops it will start to penetrate the general
consumer goods space.
Blood Diamonds
Paper certificates make provenance hard to verify. Blockchain is being used to create a ledger of diamond origin, helping to stop the spread of conflict diamonds. Using features such as clarity and colour an ‘ID’ for each diamond is created and stored on the blockchain. The diamonds journey can be recorded from mine right through to who purchases the piece of jewellery it is set in.
Second hand market
From designer shoes to luxury handbags, blockchain is enabling the tracing of the origin and authenticity of luxury goods – enabling a secure second-hand market.
Jurisdiction
Liability
Smart Contracts
Regulation
Terms and Conditions
Data Protection
DWF’s market leading retail, food and blockchain experts have come together to explore how Blockchain is disrupting the industry. We understand this complex technology and its legal ramifications and we are experts in the retail and food sectors, working with “more FTSE 100 retailers than any other law firm”.*
*The Lawyer’s Market Intelligence Retail Report 2016 DWF