Self-Sovereign Identity in E-Commerce: The Future of Personalized Online Shopping

E-commerce has been growing for years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, even users who previously preferred physical channels are increasingly shopping online. The success of online retailers depends largely on knowing their customers. However, a few major players dominate the market, leaving smaller online shops struggling to personalize their offerings. One solution is the approach of self-sovereign identity. This allows customers to control their own shopping data and selectively share it with online shops. Thus, online shops can consider individual customer preferences and requirements, providing personalized recommendations and user experience. Despite the great potential of self-sovereign identity, this approach is scarcely widespread in Germany. This article examines the use of self-sovereign identity in e-commerce. With the help of a human-centered design process, personas and actual scenarios were created, and the resulting requirements and potential identified. On this basis, a data and architecture model for the integration of self-sovereign identities in e-commerce was developed.