Data Analytics in E-Commerce
Today we all are talking about Data Analytics & Big Data. Why? What is the future prospect of Data Analytics?
We are using Data Analytics almost across all sectors. Today we will discuss about Data Analytics in E-Commerce industry in a very simplified way.
In E-Commerce industry we have two categories of Data, Controlled & Un Controlled data. Controlled data which is data that has been captured when a buyer provides information while registering which can be – name, location , address, and preferences, gender and age group. However what is more important or valuable is the Un Controlled Data and it is highly important. It is the Data which is not captured but based on customer’s choice , liking & trends. Whatever customer likes, adds to wish list or watch list , views or tweets, etc.
Its interesting as well as challenging how we can capture this Un-Controlled data and make it significant & meaningful. I read in an article that big stores collects huge amount of data from its customers interaction & transactions. The data collected can be in petabytes or billion gigabytes. That’s what Big Data is all about. E-Commerce is such an industry that has adapted and understood the benefit of Data Analytics. Because there is a cut throat competition and very thin margin.
How do companies enhance their sales.
1. Personal Preferences – Companies sends email to customer based on their previous buys, wish lists & clicks whenever there is a sale or offer going on. This is based on customer’s likings. Huge numbers of promotional emails are sent (Digital Marketing) which boosts the sale of these E-Commerce companies. Research says there is 8% to 12% or more sales. So the E-Commerce Companies get higher ROI
2. Price Factor : As the competition is cut throat , E-Commerce companies keeps changing the price of their products at regular interval based on the requirement, demand & competition.
3. Supply of Products E-Commerce Companies using Data to manage a smooth supply chain system and manage the warehouse inventory. Track the customer’s return. E-Commerce operation is critical as lot of departments are involved like logistics, warehouse more over they are dependent on Venders & Courier companies who are external . So E-Commerce companies are using Data Analytics in a big way to manage the entire operation of Supply Chain.
4. Prediction & Customer Satisfaction. Data Analytics is used by the company to analyze the buying trend of the customer. Each customer has a different choice and liking. So E-Commerce companies are closely monitoring and analyzing the behavioral pattern and buying trends of the customer and using Predictive Analytics it can be found what would be the probability of customer’s purchase and buying trends. It is very important for the E-Commerce companies to retain the customer as there is a huge competition with thin margin. Whenever a customer visit the website it is very important for the companies to convert the visit to sale.
Big Data + E-Commerce = Big Commerce
