Family-owned Begg Shoes can trace its roots back more than 150 years and has nine stores, mostly located around the north of Scotland. It has a long retailing tradition but is preparing for the years to come by investing in data and technology as it seeks to strengthen its already-strong online offer.
The company, which fulfils web sales from the company’s stores as opposed to a warehouse, has been working with The Data Lab TORCH team on the project.
Donald Begg, the company’s Managing Director, said that in broad terms the blockchain system it is developing will improve its ability to record and interconnect data within the business.
He said it offers significantly more possibilities than Excel spreadsheets, which often run out of room or lack interconnectivity, and highlighted as a key benefit the ability to see exactly where a product is within the e-commerce chain at any time, and follow its progress.
“It is effectively using blockchain within a small business environment, which to the best of my knowledge I don’t think many business in Scotland have attempted,” said Mr Begg, an accountant by trade. “It is very ambitious. There is a reason why blockchain is used by the big guys of tech, and there is a reason why it is difficult to access as a small business. But the guys we are working with, and us as a family, are confident we are getting quite close now to a system that is functioning and live and would allow us to operate in a retail environment that has so many different potential shops and different potential ways of marketing ourselves as a business.”
Read the full article at The Herald: Inverness retailer bidding to fire out the blocks
