Use cases for Web3 are still evolving but it all centers around the same principles that spawned crypto — decentralized applications underpinned by blockchain technology. It allows people to own their data and digital assets, and so opens up possibilities for distributing purchase options in new and surprising places across the internet.
"It's a shame it took these big events for that to happen, but you do start to see that what's survived are some genuine use cases," Sorrells said."Web3 is not just some big wholesale replacement for what we used to do. It's just new technology that can augment the things we've always done." "The curiosity that we have is not driven by Web3 or blockchain or the tech itself," Zivanovic-Smith said."It's solving for increasing digital loyalty, solving for the problems that we're facing with losing 30% accuracy on targeting algorithms when Apple did away with cookies."Web3 adoption is growing again, says Matt Moorut, director, analyst at Gartner, but not at the same pace as 12 to 18 months ago when metaverse hype was at its peak.
Moorut says that activewear and some luxury brands are among the most advanced with Web3."Nike and Adidas in particular were two of the earliest ones to build blockchain technologies into loyalty programs and build communities around that," he said. It's not just about transactional NFT sales, but rather how Web3 forms part of their customer experience strategy.