The Marketplace Controls Customer and Seller Data

ApolloX is on a mission to create a better marketplace for you, the buyer and the seller.

Last week we explained some issues with gaining customer trust as a new small business and how middlemen profit from taking advantage of the users trust. Today, we will focus on how the centralized marketplace controls customer and seller data and how ApolloX is creating better data privacy for all.

Centralized Marketplaces Analyze Customer Data To Make More Sales

Data privacy is another concern we have here at ApolloX. Centralized marketplaces take advantage of their position by having private control over both customer and seller data.

According to a 2017 Forbes article, retailers say, “‘I’m relying on the technology vendor to protect customer data.’ And vendors say, ‘We collect everything, but we rely on the retailer to tell us what we should keep, what we should protect, and what retailers will ultimately use.’ Each says they are relying on the other to keep consumers safe, which means no one is. Consumers are on their own.”

When its comes to customer data, e-commerce platform companies have unrestricted access to all shopping activities that happen on their platform. This data is extremely valuable because it gives small businesses insight on each customer’s profile and behavior. With this background information they can strategically promote products to the customers and drive more sales.

Centralized Marketplaces Use Its Data To Compete with 3rd Party Sellers

Amazon classifies the sellers into either Vendor Central or Seller Central for different perks, regardless what type of seller you are you have limited access to customer data and must pay additional fees for more access. Large, centralized marketplaces are complicated and unlike traditional retail partnerships. They make it difficult for sellers to have control of their products and data, sellers lose out on building relationships with their customers and end up competing with the marketplace that they joined.

If small businesses choose to sell on large marketplaces, they then give up their right to access valuable customer data. According to a 2015 Guardian article, Amazon has a list of customer email addresses and browsing histories that its marketplace sellers don’t have access to. By withholding this list, Amazon gains a competitive advantage and limits the seller’s ability to nurture close relationships with the customers.

Sellers have a love-hate relationship with Amazon, they love the access to millions of users and product promotion but hate competing with Amazon. Once Amazon knows your products that sell well, within months Amazon sells a similar product to undercut the original sellers. Sellers fear running out of business, due to Amazon holding all the data and using it against the original seller.

ApolloX Creates Better Data Privacy

It’s time for both the seller and customer to be aware of this data privacy issue and take action. The lost transparency of data usage and the manipulation of data negatively affects the consumers and sellers. ApolloX has many perks for customers and sellers. We want you to have full control of your data.

ApolloX blockchain is permission enabled and provides privacy by encrypting all sensitive data before appending blocks to the ledger. Encrypted data can only be decrypted by a user in possession of the corresponding key. On the ApolloX marketplace, all shopping activities, including browsing, clicking and purchasing, are only accessible by the trading parties, the sellers and customers.

No third party, including the ApolloX marketplace itself, will have access to shopping behavior data without gaining permission from the customers.

Users can choose to voluntarily share their data with certain vendors or service providers on the ApolloX blockchain, in order to gain personalized services or rebates. By enabling this opt-in advertising, customers can control what products or services they want to learn more about through ads, and sellers can lower their acquisition barriers and costs because they’ll have better understanding of each customer. Eventually, sellers will save on their advertising budgets and pass them to their customers as rewards. Alternatively you can choose to not leave any history of viewing a product.

On a decentralized blockchain each participant can verify the integrity of data with permissions, creating transparent data flow between brands and publishers to reduce middleman cost. Thus the attribution for traffic and advertisement can be done on any node without employing a centralized company by both sides. Sellers can review the performance of advertisement from all channels and publishers will get paid by the outcome directly from the sellers without layers of third-party agencies charging commissions.

Data privacy should be a priority to all marketplaces, sadly it’s not. As a decentralized blockchain marketplace, ApolloX is switching up the system and focusing on a new priority, the users.

Look out for our next blog with more information on the ApolloX marketplace community.

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