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Growing Local Business Online Through Storiqa and Blockchain Technology

Matthew Hrones | Nov 21, 2017 | 12:00

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Blockchain tech is primed to usher in a new age of business and technology around the world in a way we’ve never seen before. Businesses now, more than ever, need to constantly adapt to stay profitable and compete with their competition, and Storiqa is looking to help brick and mortar stores all over the world expand and improve.

[Note: This is a sponsored article.]

The Changing Face of Worldwide Business

Worldwide commerce is moving online. This isn’t even something people can debate anymore, with some of the biggest companies in the world using the internet to market their product, find potential new customers, and sell goods and services to a global market. Many of these businesses are projects that people have poured their hearts into things their passionate about, creating products or services that they can truly be proud of. But while that’s all well and good, sometimes those same people who are chasing their passion can’t keep their business profitable. It’s a digital age and to stay ahead these mom and pop shops are going to need to have an online presence if they’re to continue

Opening a shop up to customers online requires much more work and planning than simply just opening a PayPal account and starting up a website. A company that wishes to develop an online presence will have to also produce high quality, informative descriptions of their product and how it works. Professional grade photography is a standard for most sites now, and having pictures that stand out will highlight a company over their competitors.

Online marketing and advertising is a science of its own which most people spend years studying before entering the workforce. If you’re looking at a global market, one also needs to adjust everything they just created to suit people of different languages and countries. This is just impractical for most small businesses, as the owners don’t usually know how to do this and the cost of hiring the right people for the job can cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

You also need to consider the end user experience. While you may like the product a company is selling, how do you know they’re legit? What is stopping them from running with your money once you send it? These are valid concerns that need to be addressed. Big marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay help mitigate these risks by backing their vendors, but it is a long and tedious process to get a product on Amazon and difficult to straighten out your transaction if something goes awry.

How Can These Problems be Solved?

Using blockchain technology, Storiqa is looking to solve many of these problems for businesses all over the world. For businesses that use their services, they’ll have access to top-notch specialists that have expertise in the issues that are facing most companies when they try to expand their potential client base. This can help businesses at a fraction of the cost they’d spend if they used traditional consulting services, from close to $450,000 a year using some estimates, down to $18,000 a year. That’s huge for local businesses that already razor-thin profit margins.

Apart from offering their services to business, Storiqa also protects the users. When a product is shipped, it first goes to the Storiqa warehouse where it undergoes quality control checks to make sure the user is buying what is advertised. The idea is to have thousands of warehouses all over the world in many different cities. If a product fails inspection, its sent back to the seller. But if it’s as advertised, it’ll be shipped out to the consumer via traditional shipping companies with insurance paid for by Storiqa. Once it arrives, a smart contract will then send the funds to the seller. If something is wrong with the product the user gets a full refund.

Storiqa is raising funds for their project currency through an ICO based on the Ethereum Network, selling their own personal ERC20 token. You can learn more about the project and the token sale here.

Do you think that Storiqa will solve many of the barriers to growth that local businesses experience? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Storiqa, Shutterstock