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7 Ways Big Data Is Changing E-Commerce

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Click to learn more about author Evelyn Johnson.

As the volume of data increases every second, so does the need to harness the true potential out of it. Brands, especially the e-commerce marketplaces, are putting their prime focus on utilizing it to achieve greater outcomes. 

Many e-commerce marketers firmly believe that big data is critical to establishing business grounds. In this information-driven world, it can be a key player to revolutionize the industry and unleash maximum potential. Read on to learn about the ways big data is reshaping e-commerce industries and the areas it can improve to yield better results.

The Application of Big Data in E-Commerce

Big data enables brands to improve decision-making, enhance their online performance, acquire competitive advantages, and effectively execute operational processes. It creates a way through complex structured information and gives a better understanding of the business. In an e-commerce business, there’s an enormous number of data points – from the impression count to bounce rate to cart abandonment rate – that can be utilized to generate massive growth. Among the many big data applications, some are listed below:

1. Personalized Marketing

With the help of big data, it will be easier to practice personalized marketing. Many businesses fail to generate a stable lead generation. They face a high bounce rate and find it difficult to retain customers. A solution to these problems is getting to know what your customers prefer and offering them just the right thing. 

For instance, if your customer were inclined to purchase formal shirts, offering them pants would definitely bounce them away. So, you must know what to put forward, and that is possible if you integrate big data to strategically plan your marketing move. Furthermore, if you cluster customers based on their buying behavior, you can better detect your next move. You can differentiate the customers and offer them personalized product recommendations. 

2. Improves User Interface 

Big data does not merely revolve around structured or unstructured data, but it provides a deep-sighted interpretation to marketers to make appropriate business decisions. With respect to user experience and user interface, it helps in many different ways. Big data can guide you on where to place what type of button and the right color selection. It tells you about the highly active time of the day when customers are purchasing. Furthermore, it guides you on how to make promotional emails more effective and when to send them. When it comes to your store performance, it tells you which area converts better and which one needs more improvement.

3. Enables More Strategic Business Decisions

According to the statistics, around 50% of the structured data gathered from the Internet of Things (IoT) is used in the decision-making process by brands. There are advanced analytics tools used to understand customers are playing their role in improving corporate decisions as well. Among the leading analytics tools for big data, some of them are shown below:

Source: GoodFirms

Marketers can gather data in real time to make informed decisions and strategically plan their marketing campaigns. They can identify the highest long-term-value customers and ensure they build a stronger bond with them. Furthermore, they can keep an eye on the bounce rates and plan how to retain customers effectively. Integrating big data means the marketing budget can be planned a bit more strategically, which is something every enterprise aspires to achieve.

4. Optimizes Price and Maximizes Sales

Better price optimization leverages businesses to generate maximum profit. Big data helps marketers identify the optimal price of their products and learn about the stock-keeping unit (SKU) of their products. They can study the market and identify elastic and inelastic demand. Most importantly, they can study the different areas of their store, including the landing pages and product pages, to understand which section is the best performing. It becomes easier to find avenues that convert and boost overall sales cycles. 

Big data also enables marketers to bring advancements in business strategy and price planning. It helps in making key changes in the overall budgeting, including the operating costs. You can even streamline your process to invest in third-party logistics. In short, big data enables the planning to cut the equipment costs as well that affect the entire operating budget.

5. Helps in Conducting A/B Testing 

A/B testing is one major step to make your online experience seamless and efficient. It helps in identifying the bugs and eliminates the flaws that can hinder your growth. Most importantly, where the data collected from your store can ensure you optimize the overall store performance, you can also work on time-based testing of the price model. Incorrect pricing can make your retailers leave money, especially during the days when the demand is high.

Furthermore, with the initiation of time-based A/B testing, marketers can identify where the lift is occurring and how they can utilize it to increase the volume, which can further help them in deciding the discounting strategy.

6. Predicts Trends and Forecasts Product Demand

Big data analysis comes to the rescue when it comes to identifying the demand and predicting the ongoing trends. It helps to offer potential customers the product they are looking for at the right moment to ensure better lead generation. It makes the sales process accurate and result-driven. 

In the e-commerce industry, customers are becoming more conscious and their demands are changing rapidly as well. During this time, with the help of big data, you can take a hold of the market and identify the needs and wants of your target audience. You need to be a step ahead in predicting the changing demands and to take action accordingly.

7. Provides Category-Specific Insights

Big data can provide you category-specific insights. It can help you identify the right category that can increase your online visibility. For instance, if a leading brand has its footprint in the shampoo and conditioner category, you can go for the organic shampoo category based on your product specification. In this way, you can segment your category and target your campaign more efficiently.

Conclusion

Big data offers long-term benefits to brands. It depends on how you utilize it and what timely strategies you apply to interpret this data. Because at the end of the day, the data is there to assist you in making critical business decisions. Human experience and intuition, with the help of accurate data, can steer organizations in the right direction. 

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