Blockshare: Applying blockchain to the dropshipment model, a case study

Abstract

Although blockchain has become a popular buzzword lately, real world applications of this technology are still scarce. This thesis studies proposed blockchain solutions for eCommerce found in the scienti?c literature. A solution for the implementation of dropshipment through blockchain was found , the details of this soluition were worked out and a Magento2 extension which makes use of the Ethereum blockchain was built. To determine whether this application was as useful as the paper the idea was taken from claimed it would be, expert interviews were conducted with programmers to identify how the software architecture holds up to other solutions for the same functionality. Alongside this technical assessment an analysis of the value of the application was conducted by interviewing employees of online stores and corporate economists. They were shown a demo of the application and were asked for advantages and disadvantages of this application speci?cally and other solutions for the same functionality. They were asked to weigh these advantages and disadvantages to determine whether or not they would want to use the application and whether there are any obstacles to the adoption of the application. The interviews showed that, both on the technical and the business side, the interviewees found the application improved upon existing models. The biggest downsides were the privacy of the users when information is published on the blockchain and the fact that a blockchain would become too expensive. A solution using decentralised data storage in combination with a blockchain was suggested by one interviewee and could be explored in future research.