Nicholas Mui, 22, from Grand Haven, Michigan, has pleaded guilty in the 17th Circuit Court in Kent County to conducting a criminal enterprise, involving the theft and sale of Mperks account access information. Mui is required to forfeit his computer tower and approximately $630,000 in frozen cryptocurrency and cash. He compromised Mperks, a loyalty program […]
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Universal loyalty programs can serve as potent tools, not only forging a direct link between a brand and its consumers but also influencing the latter’s shopping behaviour, Gennady Volchek, the CEO of the loyalty rewards app Shping, has said. However, by harnessing the power of blockchain and cryptocurrency, these loyalty programs empower brands to connect […]
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India’s homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart will use Polygon’s chain development kit (CDK) to launch a Web3 loyalty program.
On Dec. 2, Polygon and Flipkart announced a strategic partnership to effectively position the e-commerce platform into Web3 and the metaverse. This included initiatives such as Flipverse for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), eDAO for metaverse and the FireDrops NFT marketplace.
Building on this partnership, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal announced on Dec. 7 that Flipkart will use the Polygon CDK to scale its FireDrops Web3 loyalty program.
Main announcement for today@Flipkart, the largest ecommerce and one of the largest payments companies in India is launching an ecosystem chain with @0xPolygon CDK.
This is an game changer for Web3 ecosystem in India. It not only has the potential to attract the top fintech… pic.twitter.com/gItcp4IjqB— Sandeep Nailwal | sandeep. polygon (@sandeepnailwal) December 7, 2023
Flipkart shared plans to use the Polygon CDK as the base to build an Ethereum-based zero-knowledge (ZK) layer-2 network, which can help the e-commerce platform scale future growth and streamline its service.
Flipkart will also use the Polygon CDK to offer a streamlined onboarding experience, dedicated blockspace and low transaction fees to its users, among other services. While announcing the initiative, Nailwal stated:
“This is a game changer for Web3 ecosystem in India. It not only has the potential to attract the top fintech entrepreneurs in India to build Web3, but it also might encourage many other top Enterprise and consumer brands to build their appchains.”
Nailwal also believes that participation from leading organizations will further cement India’s position as a Web3 powerhouse. “Future upgrades to Polygon CDK will also allow for enhanced privacy for transaction data, the ability to run the chain without a token or to use a central bank digital currency and access to liquidity in the greater Polygon and Ethereum ecosystems,” Polygon said.
Related: Polygon blockchain explained: A beginner’s guide to MATIC
Naiwal’s counterpart, Polygon co-founder Jordi Baylina revealed that 2024 will see the amalgamation of Polygon’s various Ethereum layer-2 scaling networks to complete its “Polygon 2.0” cross-chain coordination protocol.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, he said that Polygon 2.0 will test how the Polygon ecosystem’s various networks can scale and integrate through the implementation of zero-knowledge proofs.
Magazine: Slumdog billionaire: Incredible rags-to-riches tale of Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal
Bed Bath & Beyond’s stores might be disappearing, but the home-goods retailer will survive in online form, following Overstock.com Inc.’s deal announced Wednesday to acquire and revive the bankrupt chain’s website and loyalty program.
Overstock
OSTK,
on Wednesday said it had it had acquired Bed Bath & Beyond’s brand and intellectual property, in a deal that would reportedly meld both companies’ e-commerce platforms into one, under the name bedbathandbeyond.com. Overstock announced the deal a day after a bankruptcy judge approved the online furniture site’s $21.5 million bid to buy the assets.
Overstock said it would hold a conference call on Thursday to offer more details on the deal.
The deal will hand Bed Bath & Beyond’s website and domain names, customer database, loyalty program data, and trademarks and patents to Overstock. The deal does not include stores or inventory, or Buy Buy Baby, a baby-merchandise retailer that Bed Bath & Beyond bought in 2007.
Overstock said that within the next week, it will relaunch the Bed Bath & Beyond domain in Canada. And it said that “weeks later,” it would set up a new website, mobile app and loyalty program in the U.S.
The online furniture retailer said customers of both Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond would be able to shop online at bedbathandbeyond.ca in Canada and bedbathandbeyond.com in the U.S.
The New York Times reported that beginning in August, shoppers in the U.S. who visit overstock.com would be routed instead to bedbathandbeyond.com. The Times reported that Overstock also planned to bring back Bed Bath & Beyond’s wedding registry, and was weighing whether to rename the combined business entirely — potentially going with Bed Bath & Beyond.
Overstock snapped up the assets after Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy protection in April, following the chain’s struggles with cash burn, miscalculations on product mix and online competition. E-commerce demand over the past year has also slowed, after prices rose for basics and left customers with less flexibility to spend on things like home goods and electronics.
A separate auction for Buy Buy Baby had been set for Wednesday morning. But CNBC reported on Wednesday that Bed Bath & Beyond had split that process up into two parts — one for the baby-products chain’s intellectual property; the second for offers to keep its physical stores afloat, set possibly for Thursday.
Shares of Overstock were up 3.4% after hours. Over-the-counter trading of Bed Bath & Beyond
BBBYQ,
stock was quiet after hours, with shares up fractionally.
Overstock on Wednesday also said it would re-brand its Club O loyalty program as Welcome Rewards.
The company said that for the second quarter so far, sales were likely down in the “low-20% range” when compared to last year.
“The promotional and marketing environment has remained highly competitive due to the weak consumer sentiment within a challenging economic backdrop and changes in consumer spending preferences,” executives said.