The Impact of Blockchain on E-Commerce: A Framework for Salient Research Topics

Blockchain-based technologies are predicted as major disruptors for numerous business applications and processes, which bears huge implications for e-commerce. Given the ability of blockchain and related technologies
to create so-called “trustless systems” with idiosyncratic properties, various business models and established processes that have emerged over the years to ensure trust, reliability and enforceability in business-to-consumer
(B2C), business-to-business (B2B), business-to-government (B2G) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) relations need to be questioned and potentially adjusted. Blockchain has the potential to shake the foundation of ecommerce
by enabling exchange relations that are trustless and operate without dedicated intermediaries or even
central authorities in the case of permissionless blockchains. Furthermore, the exchange of information and value
between companies and consumers might change considerably by enabling unified access to immutable data
along the entire supply chain. In this paper, a framework and 19 high-level research questions are developed to
inspire researchers to closely investigate the potential impact of blockchain on e-commerce. The main categories
include (a) technological, (b) legal and (c) organizational and quality issues as well as (d) consumer issues. This
paper illustrates how blockchain potentially impacts different elements of e-commerce in these respective areas.