NFT Strategy

An NFT strategy can be introduced throughout a variety of industry verticals, including manufacturing companies (especially in the luxury industry), the ticketing and event hosting companies as well as real estate construction companies.

Non-fungible tokens, commonly referred to as NFTs, gained a lot of public attention throughout the past year (2021). Artists began selling virtual art and investors were generating increasingly large ROIs (return on investment). The Artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) sold his piece “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” for 69.3 million dollars at Christie’s, while the auction started with an initial bid of 100 dollars. Despite gaining public attention only in 2021, NFTs have been around since summer 2015, some argue even since 2012 (colored coins). Currently, the only popular use case of NFTs is the minting of virtual art.

NFTs allow companies in mature markets to generate additional growth, increase security measures as well as enhancing customer service levels. They also enhance the ability to track the purchasing behavior of customers even beyond the initial sale. Additionally, NFTs allow the manufacturer of products to receive a kick-back from post retail sales.

NFTs provide come with a variety of use cases in different industries. Originally used in gaming and in the sale of digital artworks, the Blockchain and NFT technology is now expanding across a variety of industry verticals. Figure 1 depicts the status quo of the NFT market environment which comprises, existing marketplaces such as OpenSea, Rare Bits or Open Bazaar, infrastructure such as Oxcert or Decentraland as well as games and collectibles such as Etheremon, Cryptopunks or Bored Ape Yacht club.

NFT purchasing and trading volumes have swiftly increased throughout 2021, which allowed them to be used as traffic and lead generators and to incentivize product sales. Customers expect manufacturers and service providers to increase their product offering and service levels.

Figure 1: Status quo of the NFT environment and ecosystem

The use cases of NFTs cover different aspects of the value chain, from the production of a physical good, the verification of product authenticity and the storing of unlimited product or service-related data on the secure anonymous yet transparent public ledger.

Figure 2: Exemplary NFT use cases and benefitting industries

Numerous companies are currently unable to grasp the full potential of NFTs and the benefits they can bring to the company. NFTs offer unknown market potential for manufacturing companies, the ticketing and event hosting industry, real estate companies or even the health care sector. Figure 2 depicts exemplary use cases and the corresponding benefitting industries. However, virtually all industry sectors and verticals can apply NFTs to their product or service offering to increase service levels and customer retention rates.

With many years of experience in E-Commerce and digitalization projects, FOSTEC & Company supports companies in setting up and optimizing NFT (Crypto consulting) strategies at all stages of the value chain across all industries. An NFT implementation strategy framework generally includes the steps listed below:

• Identification of NFT use cases: Analysis of the product and service offering with subsequential definition of relevant and tailor-made NFT use cases for the client.
• Environment analysis and USP definition of NFT (Crypto) strategy: Carry out the analysis of key competitors´ NFT business models across a variety of channels and definition of unique selling prepositions for competitors and the own company.
• NFT market potential analysis: Estimate a revenue potential based on data-driven market intelligence and identification of trends & zeitgeist.
• Definition of a NFT technology landscape: Analysis of the existing technology landscape and design of the required IT technologies and systems to aid in the successful implementation of an NFT strategy framework.
• NFT marketing and roll out strategy: Establishing an optimal online marketing mix for the sales success of the products via traditional and NFT specific E-Commerce sales channels.
• NFT organization and governance design: Designing a dedicated NFT organization with clear roles and responsibilities. These teams will operate as a goal-oriented task force delivering additional company growth and supplementing the overall corporate strategy without impeding traditional business models and decision-making processes.

In summary, it can be stated that the successful introduction of an NFT concept for companies must be based on a sound strategy, and the desired use cases need to be defined in advance.