Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine – Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President, Gartner.
It won’t be an overstatement to say no business can cherish success by ignoring the importance of big data. The ecommerce space is no exception that needs greasing with rich insights to cut through the noise.
You would be surprised to know that the digital data universe is growing at a tremendous rate, and its global market expected to reach $105.08 billion by 2027. The ecommerce industry holds a significant share in data growth.
The reason is ecommerce stores are using multiple channels to reach the users, storing the user’s micro-moments, and collecting the demographics, that’s generating zettabytes of data. The data is of tons of value if organized and analyzed aptly. The leading players have already started embracing the big data analytics technology to reap great benefits, engage customers, and engineer new experiences.
Alas! All companies are not tapping the potential of technology, but those have used the big data technology tactically, they are standing on the top of the ladder. Got interested in wielding the big data technology with your Ecommerce store to gain advantages in galore?
Let’s dive in!
Before we dig deeper to know why should ecommerce shops leverage big data, let’s first understand big data analytics:
The big data technology is an old kid on the block that stays at the core in modern business management because it stores and organizes the huge data sets, and analyze and unveils the patterns that are hidden in plain sight. There are many ecommerce platforms or analytics tools available that facilitate data analysis from large enterprises to SMBs.
Take a glance at how big data supercharge the ecommerce store with magical powers that brings the plethora of benefits:
– Analyzing shoppers
The buyers’ analysis can’t be done with their demographics. Instead, there are a lot of parameters such as browsing patterns, buying preferences, purchase history, cart abandonment, and the time at which they actively use the store, which must be considered to identify everything about them.
The predictive analytics has helped in understanding the shoppers to the core. This data can be utilized to create intelligent data-driven strategies such as social ads that can be run at the time the end-users surf the social channels most, or cross-promotion can be launched when it’s identified that the users like to buy the specific product with another particular item.
– Making customer service better
The users before buying the item when they analyze the product reviews, they give credence to the customer service ratings as well. However, digital commerce has leveled up access to customer support services, but the response rates are not equally satisfactory.
The big data analytics tools help in tracking customer service experiences, including response rates, response times, and customer satisfaction levels. The live tracking eliminates the chances of letting the users feel disappointed and look further.
– Delivering personalized experiences
Personalization is no more a novelty in the ecommerce industry; instead, it has become a necessity to keep the customers stay glued to the store, make them shop more, and bring them back to the store to make purchases.
After analyzing every individual’s journey, the analytics tool automates personalized email creation including customized discounts, offers, and special privileges, and personalized shopping recommendations, and personalized ads or messages on social channels tailored to each customers’ browsing and buying behavior.
– Ensuring security
The security is the topmost reason that deters the users from purchasing from the ecommerce store. When the store assures about payment security and financial data security, the users have no reason to deny from ecommerce shopping.
When the payment data is stored on clouds at different places, the ecommerce store won’t run the risk of getting data lost, stolen, or hacked by the fraudsters. The data security is also ensured with PCL compliance and data tokenization.
Moreover, the analytics tools allow the store owners to analyze which payment method is most favored by the users across different channels so that the same payment method can be made enabled for the users.
– Better demand forecast
The out-of-stock and wastage of over-stocked items is the biggest nightmare for every retailer. It can be prevented only when the retailers have information about inventory levels- how much to keep and when. Big data analytics won’t let the retailer miss the opportunities or run the risk of wastage.
With social listening and trend forecasting, the retailer gets to know which items are in demand during the holiday season or occasions, and accordingly, the items are kept in stock.
– Improving customer loyalty
Acquiring a new customer is a 100 times costly affair than retaining the existing ones. Big data helps in bringing back the users who are not visiting the store for a long time or abandoned the cart. With the data analyzation at an individual level, it’s easy to find out which activity can make the users visit and shop from the store.
For instance, previously, if the user comes back to the store after reading the discount message for the particular product categories, then they can be approached with similar types of deals or offer emails. When the users reached out based on their interest, be it new arrivals, discounts, free shipping, or special privileges, the chances of conversion are higher.
– Price optimization
The static price figure never attracts buyers. The price needs to be dynamic or flexible to keep up with the competitors and make the customers interested in the brand. For instance, the price can be kept high, and simultaneously a big discount percentage cut can be shown, which makes the customer feel they are getting a high discount and, in turn, make the purchase.
Also, offering the combos works great in selling more and increasing the profits.
Conclusion
Without big data, you are blind and deaf wandering out onto the web like deer in the middle of a freeway.” – Geoffrey Moore.
Once you get the users’ permission to collect the data, you have zettabytes of data to act upon and bring the winning outcomes. The big data analytics tools are continuously unfolding the valuable insights that hold great value in tapping the high sales potential. Even, the ecommerce shops get to know the strengths and weak points, which helps them create smart strategies to stand out of the crowd and stay ahead of the game. Integrating big data analytics with ecommerce is worth a pound when the slew of benefits is seen. Don’t hang fire! Incorporate the technology right away.
