Exerting Qualitative Analytics and Blockchain Requirement-Engineering in Designing and Implementing a Luxury Products Authentication System

Abstract

High-quality luxury products cater to a specific group of consumers due to their durability and the value attached to them. Counterfeiting luxury products has resulted in economic losses for both the producers and consumers. The market for counterfeit luxury products has continued to grow due to the difficulty in authenticating genuine luxury products. The traditional system of verification largely depends on the expert use of specialized equipment for visually inspecting physical luxury products and their associated certificates. This conventional process of authenticating luxury products is expensive, slow, and not easily accessible to consumers. Hence, there is a need for a digital verification approach for luxury products. Blockchain provides the potential for providing traceable and immutable information about a given luxury product. The focus of this paper is to develop a blockchain decentralized application (DApp) for authenticating luxury products in the class of luxury accessories such as jewelry across their respective lifecycles. To achieve this, qualitative analytics is applied to identify useful features for the digital authentication of luxury products. Blockchain requirement engineering modelling is then applied to explore the use of blockchain technologies to realize the features that guarantee transparency in the ownership and use of luxury products. Furthermore, this paper explores the existing blockchain technologies for realizing and implementing the developed requirements of the authentication DApp for luxury products. The selected blockchain technology stack is applied in prototyping authentication systems for luxury products. The implemented platform is simulated to demonstrate the operations carried out in authenticating luxury products.