Blockchain-Based Diversion-Point System for Balancing Customer Flow in Shopping Mall

Abstract

Changing the store layout of a shopping mall is usually costly in terms of time, resources, and money. Balancing customer flow is obviously an economical way to rationalize the store layout without displacing stores or changing their locations. However, it has long been a big challenge for managers of shopping malls, because it is difficult to build trust among stores for the sake of regulating customer flow. This trust depends on a multi-party cooperation model, of which the agreements are implemented on asymmetric information. Unfortunately, any form of endorsement with human intervention cannot support building trust on asymmetric information. To solve this problem technically, this paper proposes a diversion-point system to dynamically divert part of customer flow from popular stores to less popular ones. The system operates diversion-points and -vouchers on an asymmetric basis. It also employs a Blockchain subsystem to replace the centralized endorsement and preserve the information asymmetry, thereby building trust into the cooperation among customers, the shopping mall, and the stores therein. The evaluation shows that the proposed system is effective in remedying imperfect store layout of the shopping mall.

A Simulation of an Incentive-Based Human Flow Navigation in Cities

“…Studies that have attempted to induce people flow have mainly been done by issuing coupons, and multiple incentive options have not been fully explored; Wang et al proposed a system to issue discount coupons to balance customer flow within commercial facilities [6]. Ieiri et al defined store attractiveness values and conducted a demonstration experiment using a street walking application that distributes points and money coupons so that the store attractiveness values of each store in a shopping district remain balanced [7].…”

On Performance of PBFT Blockchain Consensus Algorithm for IoT-Applications With Constrained Devices

“…It considers the reputation of the participants in the system, which is determined by their contribution to reduction of carbon emissions. Study [42] offers an original solution for balancing customer flow in shopping mall scenarios without expensive floor plan changes. The authors propose a blockchain-based diversion model for which they use a cascading consensus protocol inspired by MSig-BFT [43] and a mode of "execute-order-validate" in Hyperledger Fabric.…”