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Blockchain, NFTs and the Metaverse in Luxury Goods

Access your guide to exploring the impact of blockchain for luxury brands

Redefining Luxury

With its ability to deliver immutable data, blockchain technology in luxury goods is helping brands to prove the authenticity of products in both primary and resale markets, while also providing evidence of sustainable sourcing and ethical supply chain practices. This, combined with the innovative opportunities unlocked by NFTs and the metaverse is helping brands to provide an enhanced customer experience, appeal to younger consumers, and capitalise on the growing resale market.

Trace Provenance & Sustainability

Validate that material sourcing and manufacturing processes abide by ethical and sustainability standards.

Verify Authenticity & Ownership

Digital twins of physical products verify products as authentic - combating counterfeit markets and aiding ease of resale.

Deliver Experiences & Communities

Unlock the potential of NFTs and the Metaverse to facilitate entirely new customer experiences, communities & E-commerce opportunities.

Proving Sustainable Sourcing

Blockchain enables luxury brands to improve the traceability of raw materials and manufacturing processes throughout the supply chain – providing visibility into provenance, ethical sourcing, sustainability and compliance. This is helping luxury organisations to build consumer trust amongst younger and more conscientious consumers, combat supplier fraud and protect their brand through streamlining supply chain operations.

Use-Cases Include:

  • Raw Material Provenance
  • Ethical & Sustainable Manufacturing

Verify the Authenticity of Luxury Goods

Brands are utilising blockchain in luxury goods to create digital twins of physical products to boost transparency and enable verification of authenticity and ownership. This aids in the fight against counterfeit markets, creates immutable records of product ownership and allows brands to unlock opportunities in the growing resale market. Through dedicated product passports, blockchain technology is facilitating enhanced brand protection whilst inspiring greater consumer confidence.

Use-Cases Include:

  • Digital Twins
  • Tackle Counterfeit Market
  • Resale Markets

Delivering Enhanced Consumer Experiences

As younger, and more digital native consumers start to dominate the luxury goods market, blockchain and Web3 technology is enabling brands to appeal to this important audience. NFTs of luxury goods are increasingly popular with consumers, both as wearables in metaverse platforms or online games, or as a means to provide access to exclusive online experiences and rewards. Consumer appetite for NFTs is also allowing brands to capitalise on an emerging but highly profitable market.

Use-Cases Include:

  • Digital Collectibles, Rewards & Experiences
  • Metaverse, Community & E-commerce

Blockchain in Luxury Goods Use-Cases

By utilising blockchain technology to both streamline and provide better oversight of the supply chain, luxury goods organisations can significantly improve the traceability and tracking of raw materials, components and products. For the organisation this improves efficiency, reduces costs and helps to combat supplier fraud — whilst benefits are passed onto the customer in terms of guaranteeing the provenance and authenticity of the materials and components used in their purchased products.

Along with raw material track & trace to prove provenance — blockchain technology in luxury goods is also enabling luxury brands to validate that the sourcing and manufacturing processes abide by ethical standards and that they meet sustainability criteria. This is particularly crucial for appealing to younger and more contentious customers who increasingly prefer brands who can provide proof for their CSR claims.

The immutability of the blockchain along with related innovations such as NFTs means that digital twins can be created on the blockchain to replicate a physical product. A commonly utilised solution here are digital product passports, such as the Protokol Digital Product Passport that acts as a real-time digital certificate to capture and securely store all data and events related to the product. This means that customers are able to view an accurate and verifiable historical digital record of a physical product including services, repairs and warranties etc – providing protection to the customer and authenticity for the brand.

By pairing a physical product with a digital twin and enabling customers to verify the authenticity of a product, the problematic luxury goods counterfeit market can be tackled, and customers can be protected. By using an immutable digital certificate and an embedded QR Code or RFID/NFC label within the physical product – customers can easily scan their product with a smartphone to view proof that their item is genuine. Customer trust in the brand is increased, and luxury organisations significantly improve revenue generation by both eliminating counterfeits and attracting new customers.

With the resale market significantly growing within the luxury goods industry, brands require a solution that enables customers to both prove the authenticity of their product, and to transfer ownership securely, quickly and easily. By utilising blockchain to create a digital product passport or certificate of the physical product, authenticity and ownership can be both proved by the seller, and ownership transfer of the digital twin can occur seamlessly after being initiated by the seller. This means that the new owner will have immutable proof that their item belongs to them — which is difficult to prove through the current resale process.

NFTs are opening up completely new markets and opportunities for luxury brands through categories such as digital collectibles and wearables including digital art pieces, avatars and other assets that can be utilised by customers to interact in a digital world. NFTs can also be viewed as keys to unlock digital experiences, perks and even rewards that can be redeemed in both physical and digital environments. With younger demographics increasingly utilising NFTs, these digital assets are providing countless opportunities for luxury brands to bridge the physical and digital world and unlock new avenues for building customer engagement, retention and monetisation.

Decentralised, digital worlds and the Metaverse are providing luxury brands with new opportunities for both building stronger relationships with current customers, and for generating new brand awareness and demand with entirely new audiences and communities. Virtual events, experiences and enhanced virtual ecommerce functionality are just a few opportunities that luxury brands now have access to through the Metaverse and NFT technology, all facilitated by blockchain.

Protokol Solutions for Luxury Goods

Digital Product Passport

The Protokol Digital Product Passport enables organisations and brands to create a digital twin of their products and physical items that securely records and stores manufacturing, ownership and lifecycle event data on the blockchain.

Use-Cases:

  1. Trace Provenance & Sustainability: Validate that material sourcing and manufacturing processes abide by ethical & sustainability standards.
  2. Identify Counterfeits: Prove product authenticity to combat counterfeit goods and fraudulent supplier practices.
  3. Resale Verification: Verify goods and easily transfer ownership data from one party to another – optimising the resale process.
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NFT Platform & Services

Protokol offer a range of NFT services and products that help your organisation build and activate an effective NFT and Metaverse strategy aligned with your business aims.

Elements:

  1. NFT & Metaverse Services: Advisory and strategy services to help your organisation create a comprehensive framework for entering the NFT space – from blockchain consulting to NFT workshops and more.
  2. NFT Platform: The Protokol NFT Platform enables luxury goods brands to easily create and distribute NFTs through a dedicated storefront or across selected marketplaces.
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Protokol Digital Product Passport

Learn how Product Passports can enable verification, prove authenticity and confirm sustainable sourcing.

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NFT & Metaverse Services

Explore the opportunities for your luxury brand in the metaverse via NFT and Web3 technologies.

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