Use cases of NFTs have been a hot topic due to the high level of speculation and little or null utility given to this type of assets since they disrupted the market.
Just as it happened during the .com bubble, a great deal of opportunistic enterprises emerged to just surf the wave without an actual interest in developing the technology or exploring its potential. Fortunately, this trend has been changing in the last few months and big brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola or Starbucks have now submerged into web3, exploring a whole new range of possibilities which can be incorporated within their business models, adding value and respecting its hard/earned reputation achieved after decades.
So how can you incorporate NFT technology to your business? This is a big question without a single answer. However, we can analyse what other brands are currently doing to help us get some ideas. The following are some of the most popular use cases currently:
• Music: tokenization of songs and albums or digital merchandise.
• Fashion, Clothing and Luxury goods: collectible pieces, virtual garmets to be worn in the metaverse or proof of authenticity.
• Supply Chain: storage of data in the blockchain or end-to-end tracking of goods.
• Ticketing: sale of events tickets as NFTs, making secondary fees trackable and facilitating a percentage of secondary revenues to the organisers in the form of royalties.
• Food & Beverage: VIP membership, discounts or access to special events.
If you want to dive into more potential use cases, we recommend you to take a look to this infographic created by 101BLOCKCHAINS.COM:
Alright, so now that some ideas might be popping up in your mind, here are some advices we think could be interesting for companies with a current working business model exploring the idea of adopting NFTs:
• Do not make it too complicated at first. One of the most common mistakes some organisations make is being too ambitious since the very first moment and wanting to deploy the best and most innovative project in web3. Ambition and innovation are positive features, but they always comes with risks. You might want to start simple first, using NFTs to provide some service your business can already provide. For example, if you own a Café, you might want to use an NFT collection as a key to a VIP membership with special perks or discounts. Later on, you will have ample time to incorporate new features and research more in the matter. By doing this, the first users of your NFTs will be satisfied since the very first moment, and we know how important is to keep customers happy.
• Add value to your clients through NFTs. This point is also related to customer satisfaction. If you are running a travel agency and already have a loyalty program in place, perhaps you could add an extra perk to it by owning one of your NFTs. This is a new technology and most likely lots of your customers will not understand or even doubt it in the first place. Adding extra value is a good way for them to get interested and be more openminded.
• Add value to your current business model, make it more efficient, by using NFTs. One of the best examples to illustrate this point is referring to the ticketing industry. By selling tickets in NFT format, companies can, for instance, receive extra income from the secondary market which adds value to the organisation. At the same time, business becomes more efficient as scams can be reduced to the minimum thanks to properties inherent to NFTs and the blockchain, as tickets cannot be neither falsified not duplicated.
• Expect to invest for a while before starting to see results. There is no doubt web3 is the future and positioning is critical. However, we need to understand we are still in an embryonic stage in which projects are researching and exploring via trial-error, and this involves investment of funds and time. Therefore, be patient before you start seeing positive results from the implementation of NFT technology.
Web3 and the use of NFTs open a new whole dimension in the way we socialize or make business. In 3w Labs, we believe the adoption of this new technology must be a constant learning process, which might differ a lot from sector to sector. Therefore, both a deep understanding of web3 and the sector in which NFTs want to be implemented are required in order to design seamless solutions and experiences.
