Big Data Helpful Suggestions: Increase Customer Experience — BitBag
Not so long ago, businesses relied mainly on simplified data and their intuition when it came to making decisions. However, the present digital era gives much more possibilities in terms of analyzing data and making more informed decisions, as customers leave valuable hints online. Big Data has transformed the world of eCommerce, revolutionizing the way companies understand and engage with their customers. Today, data holds immense power, and eCommerce platforms are sitting on a goldmine of valuable information.
In a world buzzing with interconnected devices, endless online transactions, and an overwhelming amount of consumer information, it’s no surprise that businesses are seeking ways to navigate this data-rich landscape. Big data has emerged as the key that unlocks this treasure chest, providing businesses with the power to make strategic business decisions, boost customer satisfaction, and drive growth.
Due to that, the aim of this article is to explain the term “Big data” and how it can be utilized to improve your online store.
What “Big data” means in eCommerce?
As the name indicates, Big data refers to the extensive and complex sets of data collected from various sources such as customer transactions, website browsing behavior, social media interactions, and more. This data provides invaluable insights into customer preferences, trends, and patterns, allowing businesses to optimize their operations, enhance personalized experiences, and make data-driven decisions. Big data eCommerce refers to the use of big data analytics and technologies to improve customer engagement, personalize the shopping experience, and increase sales in eCommerce businesses.
As Clive Humby once stated, “Data is the new oil,” meaning that it is becoming a more and more valuable resource. However, oil is not that useful in its raw state. It has to be refined and processed. The same applies to data; it has to be properly gathered and analyzed in order to be valuable to us.
How businesses leverage Big data analysis to increase revenue
Without a doubt, increasing revenue is a top priority for any organization. Big data has great potential and can be utilized to boost your eCommerce business in many ways. Here are the most common examples of how big data can be useful for eCommerce businesses and also their customers.
Personalized marketing
Thanks to big data analytics, businesses can gain deep insights into individual preferences, allowing them to deliver tailored marketing campaigns and personalized offers that resonate with their target audience. Nowadays, Big data combined with AI tools can be a huge help in content personalization. This approach enhances customer engagement and loyalty, ultimately driving conversion rates and revenue. Furthermore, businesses can identify patterns in customer behavior while purchasing products and their preferences, enabling them to offer relevant upsell and cross-sell suggestions. This strategic approach is great for increasing the average order value (AOV).
Price optimization
The dynamic nature of eCommerce industry demands constant monitoring and adaptation. Vast amounts of data also enable companies to analyze market trends, competitor behavior, and customer demand to optimize pricing strategies. By doing so, companies can set dynamic pricing models that change the prices of products every 10 or 15 minutes (the time span can be set individually). Due to that, eCommerce businesses can maximize profits and adjust pricing to match the state of the market and customer expectations. All that leads to getting loyal customers and attracting new ones.
Automation of processes around the website
The next area where Big data has a great use is automation. Analyzing data gathered by big data tools can get things done faster and more efficiently. To give an example, valuable data from a website can be used to automate the shipping process. As you may know, automated shipping is one of the eCommerce trends, and it is certainly worth consideration. Automation tools can verify orders and create labels by themselves, reducing the manpower required. What’s more, they are more accurate and help to fulfill more orders in less time.
Another example of utilizing Big data is automated inventory management. Business owners can use automation tools to a nalyze historical sales data, market trends, and seasonal patterns to optimize inventory management. By accurately predicting demand, companies can avoid overstocking or stockouts, reduce inventory carrying costs, and increase revenue by capturing every sales opportunity.
Sales forecasting and optimizing supply chain
Through the integration of Big data and advanced analytics techniques, businesses can leverage predictive models to anticipate future trends, customer behavior, and market dynamics. By automating the process of data-driven predictions, organizations can make more accurate decisions based on foresight, enabling them to allocate resources more effectively and mitigate risks. To give an example, big chunks of data can be analyzed by dedicated tools and predict what will happen in the future based on what has happened in the past, or they can base on current shopping patterns, for example, increased demand for leather jackets (due to upcoming Autumn season). Moreover, large amounts of data help optimize supply chain operations. Predictive analytics aim to reduce inventory holding costs, and ensure delivery on time.
Fraud detection
The last example mentioned here would be fraud detection. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data shows that consumers reported losing nearly $8.8 billion to fraud in 2022. By analyzing data, online stores can identify potentially fraudulent transactions and secure their websites. For instance, such analysis can detect return fraud, which is a significant source of loss for retailers. Apart from that, by leveraging machine learning algorithms, retailers can detect anomalies and potential fraud before it occurs, leading to improved fraud detection rates and reduced losses.
To sum up, as businesses continue to harness the power of Big Data, the possibilities for using it to drive sales are constantly increasing. By making data-driven decisions, companies can gain a competitive edge, enhance customer experiences, and unlock new business growth opportunities. The era of Big Data has arrived, and those who use its potential will be one step closer to success. To make this statement more believable, the next paragraph discusses the benefits of leveraging Big data.
Benefits of leveraging Big data in eCommerce
Analyzing precious data from the eCommerce website brings a number of benefits to the owner as well as the customers. Firstly, it enhances the shopping experience and customer satisfaction. Customers get better marketing offers, automated shipping ensures that their package will be delivered as soon as possible, and products are almost always in the inventory due to the optimization of the supply chain. Additionally, customer service on the website is better as the company knows what are the frequent client’s problems and already knows the solution to them. Secondly, eCommerce websites can make better use of search engine optimization (SEO). By getting valuable insights about what products are currently popular and what categories are the most visited, businesses can optimize the website to show them on the home page or plan marketing campaigns involving such products. Thirdly, analyzing data is a great help in business scaling. Information about competitor pricing and market trends leads to forecasting sales and preparing resources for it on time. Ultimately, all of the aforementioned uses of Big data contribute to increased sales and conversions.
Summary
With the wealth of data available in eCommerce, big data empowers businesses to make well-informed, data-driven decisions. By automating data collection, processing, and visualization, eCommerce companies can extract valuable insights regarding market trends, customer preferences, and operational efficiencies. This automation ensures that decisions are based on accurate, real-time information, enabling businesses to adapt swiftly to market changes. Keep in mind that your own data sources can be enriched by third-party integrations to get even better results.
If you have any questions about setting up your eCommerce business and wonder how to leverage Big data to do it, contact us to dispel any doubts!
Originally published at https://bitbag.io on August 10, 2023.
