Monetha

1.​ ​Three​ ​significant​ ​problems​ ​that​ ​merchants
face:​ ​trust​ ​and​ ​reputation,​ ​payments,​ ​and​ ​an
inability​ ​to​ ​reach​ ​the​ ​growing​ ​Ethereum
economy
E-commerce has grown at an unprecedented rate and is projected to grow at an
even higher rate over the coming years. According to “Statista”, retail e-commerce
sales worldwide in 2014 were USD 1.33 trillion and are projected to increase to USD
4.058 trillion by 2020.

The growth is perfectly illustrated by the number of shops created on the Shopify
platform. They had 84,000 shops in 2013, 144,000 in 2014, 243,000 in 2015 and
ended 2016 with almost 378,000 merchants on the platform - a growth of 450% over
3 years.

E-commerce is also gaining greater weight in total retail sales globally. It is expected
to increase from 7.4% in 2015 to 14.6% in 2020. Furthermore, according to Statista,
the number of people buying goods or services online will increase from 1.46 billion
in 2015 to above 2 billion in 2020.
Despite the super high growth of e-commerce, merchants face three major
problems: 1)​ Trust​ ​and​ ​reputation,​ ​2)​ ​Expensive​ ​and​ ​long​ ​payment​ ​process,​ ​and
3)​ ​An​ ​inability​ ​to​ ​reach​ ​the​ ​growing​ ​Ethereum​ ​ecosystem,​ ​with​ ​a​ ​market​ ​cap​ ​of
~36​ ​billion​ ​and​ ​its​ ​corresponding​ ​Ethereum​ ​token​ ​economy.
1.1 Trust and reputation problem in global e-commerce
Building trust is difficult. It takes time and costs a lot of money. It’s even more difficult
for new or small merchants.
Trust and reputation are extremely important for participants of today's global
commerce. People are more likely to buy from trusted merchants; therefore,
merchants are striving to maximise their trust rating/reputation and build a loyal
customer base.
According to Econsultancy, 61% of customers read online reviews before making a
purchase decision. Moreover, according to Reevo stats, 63% of customers are more
likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews and a proven trust
rating.
Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted (nearly 12 times more) than
descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US internet
users by the online video review site EXPO. Furthermore, Shopify, in one of their
merchant blogs, emphasized that “showing that others trust you” is vital to a
merchant’s success.
There are, however, a few major problems regarding trust that merchants face in
today's global e-commerce.
1. The trust and reputation system to facilitate commerce is​ ​only​ ​possible​ ​in​ ​closed
marketplaces,​ which are controlled by a central authority. In order to build trust, you
have to join one or a few of the closed marketplaces, such as: Amazon, Ebay,
Alibaba, etc. By joining them, merchant must accept all their rules; for example, 20%
commission from sales.

Monetha