In these changing times, an organization completely depends upon digitized versions of data that may be structured or otherwise.
These data need to be handled efficiently, mined, or stored for further advanced applications.
The necessity for software to collect and handle this data resulted in the development of many choices for enterprises worldwide.
Big Data is a collection of many forms of data that a company can use to improve its operations and overall experience.
According to recent studies, organizations that use big data in their operations achieve an 8% increase in profits.
So, how does big data benefit e-commerce businesses?
Benefits of Big Data in E-commerce
- Shopping made easy:
With the help of big data, e-commerce companies can illustrate their customer experience while shopping.
This is done by analyzing the behaviour patterns of the customer and curating foretellings based on that.
A prediction based on a customer’s preference can ultimately enhance their shopping experience, as experienced by Lenovo, where they attracted 11% more sales and revenue.
- Payment gateways made safer:
One of the major concerns of users when shopping for anything online is the payment gateways. With so many scams and fraudulent websites, payments can get messy.
With Big Data, customers can ensure that the payment mode is safe. It also suggests the mode of payment that will work best among certain customers based on previous behaviours.
- Increase sales through better pricing:
Knowing what your customer wants and how much they will pay makes a tremendous difference in sales. Personalizing the product range based on optimum pricing can be a way to ensure more sales.
People who have been using the website for a long time can also be given discounts or other benefits to strengthen their loyalty.
Pairing items together can also increase sales as a 1% increase in price equates to an 8.7% increase in profits.
- Customer service:
Any business flourishes with prompt customer service. A satisfied customer is worth so much more than companies realize, as they are likely to spend 67% more than new shoppers.
Of the unhappy customers, 13% are likely to express their unhappiness to others. If satisfied, 72% share the business with more than 6 people.
Big Data helps to detect the problems faced by customers through social media and helps rectify them efficiently.
It helps focus on different areas and improve them for better service.
- Loyalty
Every business depends on loyal customers to some extent.
Even though businesses may focus more on getting new buyers, the prospect of sales with new customers is at 5% to 20%. But effective strategies to retain existing customers can be much more beneficial as it is known to increase sales by up to 95%.
Like friendships or another relationship, keeping it alive needs loyalty.
Existing customers need to be given the value they deserve to make them stay, parallel to acquiring new customers. Personalized promotions are one way of building loyalty.
If an old customer has purchased something, say a unique design and size, showing similar products is guaranteed to make them feel cared for.
Businesses that realize the importance of existing customer loyalty enjoy more long-lasting benefits than others.
Companies that understand the importance of both new and old customers are very few, which is alarming. Figures prove that 65% of sales of most companies occur through old customers.
Unstructured Data in Companies
As discussed before, data can be structured or otherwise.
Structured data is often stored in a database with every information pertaining to the customers. Unstructured data is not that easy to be categorized and stored.
Finding something from these enormous files can be a task. Big Data makes handling such huge files easier.
The data stored from social media is in unstructured form. Using Big Data analysis, data handling will be one problem of yours back.
Using Customer Care for a Customized Experience
Companies that are quick to reply are often more appealing to buyers.
The level of customer care is often ignored by companies, which is a huge blunder.
Utilizing Big Data is customer care helps to study each customer and their behaviour separately. A customer care agent can help with personalization in many different ways, such as:
- A customer’s purchase history is a goldmine of information that can be used to study them better. It can be used to offer discounts and other privilege deals to enhance its user experience.
- Items one customer purchased can be used as an example to recommend to other similar customers. This categorization can be made based on age, gender, locality, etc.
- A person’s purchasing behavior and the products returned can give an idea about the issues faced by them. The relevant issues can be addressed in a better way in the future by having access to all the information.
Most of the time, when customer support is chosen, an automated response is received.
Many customers feel that such responses do not make them feel looked after.
Over 72% of buyers prefer personalized messaging provisions to automated ones as such messaging feels close and personal. E-commerce websites that communicate with their buyers constantly are preferred by customers.
When the messages start by addressing the customer’s name, it feels more personal.
Not just messages, emails also become more effective when they address the customers with their names.
The misconception that people do not prefer personally addressed messages and tag them as creepy has been around for a while.
But in reality, customers like it when they receive personally addressed messages. About 66% of people want websites to understand their needs and recognize them personally.
Personalization and Big Data
There are several benefits to Big Data, like secure payment modes, better customer service, etc.
But one of the most important ones is how personalized Big Data makes the entire shopping experience.
The demand for personalized shopping does not end there, as surveys report that 87% of customers feel personalization influences their decision to purchase.
Big Data helps in creating recommendations that can increase sales.
Several research has proved that almost 91% of buyers return to a shop when the website shows personalized recommendations for them.
This help creates a sense of belonging among the buyers, increasing sales because of returning customers.
Big Data helps to unravel products that may go unnoticed otherwise and bring them to the front for the required customer to see.
This is done by analyzing how the buyer behaved in previous purchases online.
Changing trends and time limits
Any huge venture related to data should be done with time in mind. Buyers do not wait forever for something to show up.
They need to be convinced and impressed quickly for them to buy a product.
This involves time limitations. But personal listings enhance customer experience, which has proven to drive customer retention by a shining 89%.
With the help of Big Data, personalization can be done quickly.
Gathering the required information using the software and using it to create custom listings can be made a lot easier by Big Data.
Big Data also helps in the prediction of trends and market demands.
With the information about all the purchases made by customers during each period, the market demand can be accurately foreseen by Big Data analysis.
How is this helpful? Such data can help create the products in demand for a particular season and increase sales.
Get to know your visitors more
Not everyone visiting a website is going to make a purchase.
As an e-commerce business owner, you have to make the products and recommendations interesting enough for them to consider making an order, even if it wasn’t their idea in the first place.
Big Data assist e-commerce owners in creating a specific focus group for the services and products so that marketing can be more efficient.
So, when a person randomly visits, they will notice products that will pique their interest and likewise become more inclined to linger a little more on the website.
As they go through more and more catalogues of products that suit their purchase history or style, the person would be impressed with the website without them knowing.
They might even make an order even if they didn’t plan to make one before!
The tools of Big Data to get access to customer interests and their shopping data is a huge bonus for many e-commerce businesses as it helps to show tailored recommendations to attract more potential buyers.
The Bottom Line
With the help of Big Data and its analysis, an online company can understand the customer better.
They can get the customer’s viewpoint in a brighter light, enabling them to curate more personalized options to choose from.
The customer’s age, gender, location, interests- everything is analyzed based on their online presence to give customized options.
Big Data has an enormous influence on sales and feedback in e-commerce.
Many industries have benefited from their analysis, making it the ultimate tool to empower e-commerce and business on the path to success.
