Big Data in eСommerce: How Your Business can Benefit from It

If you are interested in technologies, you must have heard the word combination as “big data.” But it is not just a buzzword that can make your solution look trendy. Instead, it’s an innovative approach to organizing efficient work with data of any volume to get more benefits from their use. Thanks to the actual value of such solutions for businesses from different spheres, it is nothing surprising in the continuously growing demand for big data services, including the development of data strategy, data processing, management, and visualization.

In this article, we are going to explain the role of big data in eCommerce, as well as the benefits that you can enjoy using eCommerce big data analytics.

Big Data: Today and tomorrow

As we’ve already stated above, the interest in big data from the side of businesses is growing thanks to the vast new possibilities that these technologies can offer companies on their way toward digitalization.

The world’s big data industry is estimated at $274.3 billion. Businesses and individual users deal with vast volumes of data every day. In 2025 the volume of generated data will reach 180 zettabytes, while in 2021, this figure equals 79 zettabytes.

Today, companies and organizations understand that their data should be securely stored and efficiently used. It is impossible to structure and process vast volumes of data manually. First, it will take too long, and when some data is processed, it will become irrelevant. Secondly, the risks of human errors will be too high. That’s why your work with data should be automated.

Role of Big Data in eCommerce

As highlighted above, we focus not on the entire business sector but eCommerce exclusively in this article. Nevertheless, before we analyze how to apply any tools in this segment, we need to understand how big data helps eCommerce. You will be suitable if you say that such software and analytics tools allow companies to work with business-related information. But let’s make our answer more precise.

Below you can find the most popular reasons for applying big data in eСommerce.

• Possibility to better understand customers’ needs and demands. Today we can say that we all as clients are spoilt (in a good sense, actually). We are accustomed to the highest level of services and an entirely individual approach. But what can you, as a business owner, do to personalize your interaction with hundreds and even thousands of your customers? How can you understand their interests, tastes, preferences, and behavior? How can you anticipate their wishes? All this is possible thanks to eCommerce big data analytics. These tools can analyze search result trends and time spent by your clients on each page of your website or app, providing you with valuable information for shaping your marketing strategy. And as a result, you will be able to reach a higher level of customer retention and satisfaction.
• Reduction of operatopnal costs. As with big data, you can significantly enhance your business strategy by covering everything from client experience to supply chain and marketing efforts. As a result, you can avoid many useless expenses and cut operational costs with a good strategy.
• Easier decision-making process. If earlier managers could rely only on their intuition and theoretical knowledge to make any business decisions, you are always on the safe side with big data analytics. You will be able to reduce the time needed for making decisions, and the risks that they will be incorrect are pretty low.
• Enhanced operational procedures and workflow. This benefit is closely tied to all the ones mentioned above. With big data tools and predictive analytics, in particular, you will have a clear picture of your client behavior and general market trends. And this knowledge will help you optimize all your activities and efforts in strict accordance with your ongoing business needs.

Why Big Data is a must have

You can read more about all the new possibilities that big data provides following this link.

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How to use Big data and eCommerce

And now, when we have general knowledge of the big data capacities, let’s discuss how to use big data in eCommerce. We’ve prepared a list of aspects where big data can be applied to solve different business tasks.

• Predictive analytics. With AI and ML-powered forecasting algorithms, you do not need to play the guessing game when you want to know what products and when will boast great demand among your customers. Many eCommerce leaders like Amazon have already started applying such software to track client behavior and monitor changes in their interests. One of the examples of how predictive algorithms can be used in practice is personalized recommendations (you as a client probably have already noticed that different websites try to recommend you products that are similar to those you’ve already viewed. And the more you open such ads, the more recommendations of this type you get). These algorithms use such information as your details, including your income level, needs, and interests. As a result, they can understand what can be interesting for a particular client.
  Moreover, there are so-called predictive lead scoring algorithms that analyze trends in the behavior of users to predict who of them can be converted into those customers who will be ready to pay for your products.

• Product pricing optimization. Data-backed pricing is one of the most effective approaches in eCommerce today. And these are not just loud words. With data-driven pricing management, businesses can observe an average annual growth of ROI of up to 200-350%. With the analysis of vast volumes of data that can include cookies, previous purchases, and info from other platforms, you can set prices on your products dynamically based on the data received in real-time.
  Moreover, with big data, eCommerce businesses can quickly access the figures that demonstrate clients’ reactions to different special deals and the impact of discounts on profitability.
• Demand forecasting. Inventory and order management solutions can help you avoid the risks of running out of the most popular products or overstocking. Precise analysis of historical data and current behavioral trends will ensure accurate forecasting and help you optimize your derivatives investments.
• Logistics planning. Thanks to big data tools powered by AI, you can easily find the shortest and the most appropriate routes for product deliveries and optimize your expenses on logistics. Moreover, with reliable software, you can fully enjoy the benefits of multi-warehouse capabilities.
• Personalization. Today it is not a bonus but a standard in eCommerce. Customers expect to get an individual approach and personalized offers. And if you want to stay afloat, you need to ensure that. With big data, you can get a complete profile of your clients, which you may use for personalized ads and other personalized experiences. They may include emails with customized offers and discounts, dynamic pricing, flexible bonus programs, etc. As a result, your customers should feel that they are unique.
• Sales growth. With optimized pricing and appropriate targeting, you can reach your key goal and see your sales growing. It is impossible to name just one tool to boost your sales and send them to the moon. It’s more sensible to talk about devices, including those aimed at increasing customer satisfaction and those that help your marketing specialists better manage your offerings based on the real-time conditions.
• Customer retention. eCommerce big data tools play an essential role in increasing customer satisfaction and retention. Analytics software allows monitoring clients’ reactions and responses to your offerings and detecting problematic issues that you will be able to address timely. eCommerce big data analytics can also help you track how long it can take for a client to get a reply from your online consultants and how much time is needed to deliver orders to different locations.
• Secure online payments. Fast transaction processing is one of the crucial points you should ensure on your platforms if you are interested in your business's success (otherwise, failure will be a logical consequence). And big data analytics can help you provide the required security for your users. For example, modern algorithms can monitor billions of transactions, track their quality and detect those that can be fraudulent. Thanks to these capacities, you will be able to ensure exclusively safe payments for your customers.
  What’s more, these analytic tools can monitor your clients’ preferences in payment methods. Then, based on the provided results, you can decide the types of payment options that should be either added to your website or abandoned if nobody is interested in using them.

But to make sure that you will get a highly reliable and efficient eCommerce big data solution, you should find seasoned developers with relevant knowledge and experience. In one of our previously published articles, we’ve already told our blog readers how to hire the best big data developers. If you are also looking for specialists who will help you streamline your business growth with an innovative software product, just follow the link and read our tips.

If you have an eCommerce platform (or are just working on its development at the moment) and want to power it with big data tools, we will be happy to become your IT partner who will guide you through this journey. Our seasoned developers have rich experience working with big data solutions for different industries, and eCommerce is one of them. We always do our best to stay tuned with all the latest market trends and technologies, allowing us to offer solutions that bring the highest value to businesses. 

To discuss what we can offer, just fill in this form, and we will reach you as soon as our experts analyze your inquiry.