Data is everything when it comes to informed decision-making. And you can barely find any sphere that doesn’t utilize data in its operations. One of the industries relying heavily on data is eCommerce.
The more customers move to online shopping, the more information they leave. So companies take it up to predict trends, understand consumer behavior, and offer more personalized products and services.
As eCommerce is one of the most saturated markets, online merchants do their best to get a competitive edge. They develop cutting-edge solutions, increase website loading speed to improve the shopping experience, and even invest in Magento support and maintenance services or the ones applicable to their platform to ensure their platforms run efficiently.
Regarding data management, they apply modern technologies to navigate through details about customer interactions. Big data analytics is one of those innovations.
Big data is picking up steam in the world. However, it may create new challenges like data management and security.
That’s why some businesses get overwhelmed with siloed data chunks. Luckily, big data tools are built to handle the new level of complexity. In this article, we’ll look at the role of big data technologies in eCommerce and the ways to use them in this sphere.
5 Ways to Transform eCommerce with Big Data
If you’re ready to put in the necessary effort and work hard, all the problems with using big data won’t matter much. Adopt big data slowly and properly to maximize its advantages. Where can you apply big data analysis in the online store? Let’s overview some ways to upgrade the online store’s operations with big data.
1. Taking Shopping to a Higher Level
The data available to eCommerce businesses are limitless, allowing them to use predictive analytics to forecast future customer behavior. Retail websites monitor figures, such as:
- the average number of clicks per page;
- the number of items customers add to their shopping carts before checking out;
- the typical interval between a visit to the homepage and purchase, and so on.
Rewards or subscription programs can also provide valuable insights. Businesses can study client demographics, age, preferences, size, education, and occupations.
Merchants can launch ground-breaking strategies to reduce the time to purchase, prevent shopping cart abandonment, and respond to emerging trends. Similarly, predictive analytics assists with planning inventory to handle seasonal and economic fluctuations. It lets you have items in stock and deliver them fast in the most critical moments.
2. Securing Online Payments
Security of payments is a must in providing the best possible shopping experience. That’s why various store owners upgrade their websites, depending on the CMS.
Big data tools can also protect online stores. They spot unusual purchasing patterns and alert clients right away. Companies can set up warnings for various fraudulent actions. For example, these can be a string of purchases made quickly with the same credit card or paying with different methods from the same IP address.
Let’s take eCommerce websites with several payment options on a single platform. Big data analysis can identify which payment methods are the most effective for certain clients and may assess the effectiveness of specific options. The results may inspire you to simplify a checkout process, configure a wish list functionality, or provide a “bill me later” option.
3. Ensuring More Accurate Personalization
You can utilize big data to create a more individualized shopping experience apart from safe, straightforward payments. How can you personalize the experience with big data analytics? It all starts with building a 360-degree view of the customers. With this approach, eCommerce businesses can categorize their clients according to their gender, location, and social media activity. This data is useful in the following ways:
- personalizing websites based on search and purchase history;
- displaying the most relevant content to unknown users with patterns similar to existing clients;
- introducing new items aiming at a given demographic of customers;
- designing and sending emails with tailored discounts and products. Below is a such example from Pulp & Press. The store provides links to goods hand-picked by the team to meet the consumer’s needs.
Source: newsletter from the official Pulp & Press website
4. Determining the Best Pricing for Various Customer Groups
Price management can rely on big data, providing benefits to eCommerce businesses. How can online retailers optimize pricing strategies with the help of big data? Analyze information from past purchases, cookies, clicks, etc. You can set dynamic pricing to adapt them to various customer groups. For example, you can see how discounts influence the purchase decision and sales.
Encourage loyal customers to stay with the company by giving them early access to special offers. Set lower prices on the items that might interest them. Or adjust prices according to where potential clients live and work.
5. Improving Customer Service
Keeping customers happy is essential for a business. Poor customer service can ruin a company’s perception and divert from purchasing goods even with the most competitive prices and products.
Outstanding customer service contributes to higher profitability. People will be more likely to share positive recommendations with others and ensure a stable income for a company. Big data enhances customer service by showing weaknesses and strengths, including:
- the levels of consumer satisfaction (that’s where sentiment analysis may help);
- issues with product delivery;
- the brand image on social media.
Conclusion
Big data in eCommerce is crucial, and this cannot be understated. It is unquestionably one of the major forces behind the development of the current eCommerce industry, providing tools for increasing productivity regardless of the business size or type. How will big data evolve in the future?
The next generation of big data will offer greater depth and accuracy to data analytics, secure data storage, and unprecedented convenience for suppliers and customers. The technology will undergo all-encompassing improvements. And that’s a fact. Thus, if you want to stay up to date with the current trends, you should pay attention to this and similar technologies.