Many still wonder, “What’s Web. 3.0?” Well, it's challenging to offer an all-encompassing answer because there are many varied perspectives. In addition, Web 3.0 is evolving at a rapid clip.
Let’s give it a go:
Web 3.0, the Internet's third generation, is a global network that facilitates intelligent interactions between its users and devices.
A bit of background on how we got here…
Web 1.0 refers to the first stage of the World Wide Web's development. With only a few content providers in Web 1.0, the great majority of users are content consumers. The most common personal web page was static sites hosted on ISP-owned web servers or free web hosting providers.
Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media is widely credited for coining the phrase "Web 2.0" in 2004 at the inaugural Web 2.0 conference. He defined it as, "The web as a platform.” Still, it was Darcy DiNucci who first introduced the term in 1999. Needless to say, Web 2.0 started losing steam in the mid-2010s.
So, web development has three separate eras: Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and now, Web 3.0. Concerning Web 1.0 and 2.0 the protocol allows you to access resources (such as a URL) and files (such as HTML pages).
In contrast, IPFS, or InterPlanetary File System, is the most likely successor to the current DNS system. IPFS, a blockchain-based file system, was created to create a peer-to-peer file system akin to BitTorrent, a popular file streaming service for downloading and sharing movies and music.
As a result, digital identities, together with the blockchain, may be the most important feature of Web 3.0. Hello, anons!
Further, on Web 2.0, cyber crime of all kinds, from identity theft to click fraud, is rampant. What’s the upside? Web 3.0 can mitigate this.
What does Web 3.0 have to do with e-commerce?
Customers in the digital age are searching for convenience and control. Thanks to the blockchain, both are achievable.
For instance, NFTs and Web 3.0 transactions will be widely used in e-commerce sites in less than five years. If you’re on crypto Twitter (CT), you see it happening in real-time.
Often, Web 2.0 entails forced accommodation.
During the last decade, centralized platforms have done an excellent job of integrating the technologies required for online commerce. They make it simple for e-commerce merchants to sign up, establish shops, and start selling their wares online.
As a result, millions of Internet shops flocked to various platforms, igniting the entrepreneurial spirit of countless individuals. Giving credit where credit is due is critical. To be fair, these Web 2.0 platforms still work as intended and make many e-commerce owners lots of money.
However, as these platforms' user populations grow, the demands of their users become increasingly diversified. Also, as merchants become increasingly diversified, one platform will be unable to address all their needs.
In the end, the platform returns to the mean. This is the foundation of the majority of its response. It's OK for everyone, but it's not mind-blowing either.
As the platform's merchants' skill and money grow, a disturbing reality emerges: The platform makes decisions based on what's best for the platform rather than what's best for the e-commerce sites.
Merchants have access to the technology they need to operate their operations, such as the capacity to keep track of inventory, process payments, and update their websites. Nonetheless, they have a limited number of options. Customers may only use apps that the platform has approved, and only particular payment methods are available. E-commerce platforms do this to protect their primary revenue stream, which is reliant on subscriptions.
In other words, Web 2.0 e-commerce platforms frequently force e-commerce owners to embrace their strategy and business model rather than enabling them.
E-commerce on Web 3.0
There is good news, and it is that Web 3.0 is already here. Today, customers can buy products from an e-commerce site with ease thanks to smart, contract-enabled distributed apps (dApps) on the blockchain. These transactions lower the number of product returns, chargebacks, and credit card fraud because of the immutability and trustlessness of self-executing code.
Moreover, smart contracts enabled by blockchain will be cryptographically unique and secure, increasing trust between the business selling the items and its consumers.
Customers are starting to embrace NFT tokens for purchasing goods from any e-commerce site.
Because every NFT transaction is recorded and distributed in a shared ledger on the blockchain on which it was created, the public record is preserved. It works as a type of certification that cannot be changed or removed.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) bridge the gap between virtual and physical economies by developing a market for value digital items that can be scaled, gathered, and transferred due to this feature.
To illustrate, the monetization of loyalty rewards programs, which typically award you points for every dollar you spend, is one of the most common uses of NFTs in e-commerce. These points may then be redeemed for particular items or discounts on subsequent purchases, and they can add up to big bonuses like free holidays and smart devices.
Not to mention, e-commerce sites can take crypto as quickly as they accept credit cards--perhaps even more efficiently. It stands true for Web 2.0 and Web 3.0
Final thought
There's no question that Web 3.0 will profoundly disrupt the e-commerce environment. Thus, if forward-thinking e-commerce companies do not embrace NFTs, crypto, and Web 3.0, they may find their businesses left in the dust.
We're barely scraping by in web 2.0. I have no idea how to advance the basic e commerce we have into a web 3.0 version. We've thought about putting out products on Shopify and see if there's any traction there but that would be web 2.0 still. We take it one day at a time.