Optimize Your E-commerce Conversion with Big Data


Today more than ever, we all leave traces of what we do on the internet: of our interests, tastes and, most importantly, our purchasing behavior. All this feeds the so-called Big Data. Learn here how to use it to sell more in your e-commerce.


What is Big Data?


Big Data is the storage, management and analysis of an enormous amount of data, with the aim of transforming it into information that enables decision-making.


In recent years, you've surely heard or read this term several times. And the thing is that, especially as a result of the growth of the Internet, the world realized it was facing a flood of data that, well managed, could mean great advantages.


So, the complexity was in how to store and manage this volume to take advantage of it. Thus were born the systems and platforms to facilitate its processing and transformation into useful information, nimbly. Hello, Big Data. 


When we talk about Big Data, at least 3 essential characteristics converge:


Volume: we already said it, the amount of data is massive.


Velocity: the data keeps adding up in real time quickly.


Variety: the data is of all kinds, from figures, dates, times and demographic information, to content, behaviors, consumption habits, tastes, etc.


Today everyone understands that keeping all those user/customer traces tracked is an obligation, because this way companies, and very especially e-commerces, can define strategies, not randomly, but based on data. This way, the risks are lower. 


In the end, you can generate information that lets you understand your market almost surgically, and thus determine how to satisfy each customer, yes, each one, in a personalized way, when they need it. That's the great value of Big Data.


Now that you know what the term refers to, let's move on to its importance for a sector in full boom and boosted recently: e-commerce.





Importance of Big Data in e-commerce


A maxim of marketing is to know your customer. Nowadays, you can have an almost exact portrait of each customer and, even better, of a potential customer.


With Big Data, an e-commerce can have very precise data about what your consumers want or prefer, for example:


How they interact with your brand and your different products.


How much they spend on average.


How much time they view each product.


Where your customers are located.


What they added to the shopping cart on the site or what they discarded.


And so, countless data that must then be interpreted and turned into strategic insights through data analytics.


But, going back to the title of this section, the importance of Big Data in e-commerce can be summarized in these 4 points:


1- It reveals trends, patterns and market needs: Based on Big Data, you can recognize certain constants in your customers' behavior, as well as their demands, with the idea of making predictions and taking decisions to reach relevant audiences. It's what Data Science does. 


2- It creates competitive advantages: With good data analysis, you'll be able to look at and understand what your competitors do, and, together with a personalized strategy for your customers, optimize your action plan nimbly. 


3- It detects the potholes in the purchase journey: With Big Data you can monitor the consumer journey completely, and thus you'll be able to identify whether it's being fulfilled as planned or whether an adjustment is necessary. Best of all: you'll notice quickly and be able to correct in a timely manner.


4- It recognizes a potential customer: Big Data platforms will help you find quality potential customers, precisely, and target them with the different marketing tools you define.


You surely already recognize the importance of Big Data in e-commerce at this point. Keep going, because now we'll mention the advantages that have made Big Data become an indispensable point in e-commerce.


A piece of data that reflects it: the consultancy Research and Markets pointed out that the global big data and business analytics market will reach 448 billion dollars in spending by 2027, which represents a year-over-year growth of 13% since 2017. 


And one more: the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates that the companies that will achieve the fastest revenue growth from BD will be retail companies. So don't fall behind.


Advantages of Big Data for e-commerce


We already defined what Big Data is and we understand its importance: basically we're facing precise data on consumers or potential customers that, translated efficiently, can take online stores to another level. 


It's time to list its main advantages for e-commerce:


1- The creation of precise profiles of customers and potential customers: This will let you offer a personalized customer journey and include specific recommendations for each customer according to their interests and behaviors.  


2- Prediction of user behavior: By knowing how your customer responds to a product or promotion, you'll be able to anticipate and make proposals more in line with their needs.


3- Inventory organization: This is a very practical advantage in the day-to-day of the business, since you'll know the time and day of best sale of a certain product. This way, you'll be able to plan inventory management in detail and even make marketing decisions, like what the best time is to announce a promotion or what products you can put on sale because they don't move much.


4- Monitor competitors: There are Big Data tools available to e-commerces that let you accurately assess what your rivals do, in terms of prices and product offering. 


Now, let's move on to comment on those tips that will let you boost your site through Big Data.





How to make the most of your e-commerce with Big Data?


As you'll have noticed, Big Data offers an enormous amount of information about customers' habits, which let you predict their needs and, from there, develop strategies to sell more. 


But if there's something we all know it's that data alone doesn't say much. The real magic is the possibility of processing and analyzing that data to transform it into an action plan.


This is exactly what Data Science does: getting that amount of data to turn into decisions that help the business grow. It's not an easy task, but if you're interested in going deeper into this area and taking advantage of one of the most in-demand professions today, you have the option of studying the online Data Scientist career at Coderhouse.


Now let's get to what you need to know to make the most of your e-commerce with this powerful tool that has revolutionized the world of online business: Big Data. Here we detail the recommendations one by one:


1- Design a personalized experience for your customers: It's the essence of Big Data and it's going to ensure the growth of your conversions. And the thing is that, as customers, we all like to be shown proposals that fit our interests or that perhaps complement something we already bought. That's why, with the help of Big Data, you'll have the possibility of getting ahead of your customer's expectations by bringing them personalized offers that, for sure, will be very hard to reject. That's where the probability of conversion grows.


2- Segment your customers: By knowing your customers' purchasing behavior and the way they interact with your brand, you'll be able to know at what point of the customer journey they are, and focus your sales strategies at the right moment according to their decisions.


3- Make decisions in a timely manner: With Big Data you have data in real time, for example, of how the sale of some product is going, who is buying it or not, the sales figure, etc., and that lets you make decisions at the right moment.


4- Identify market trends: With correct data analytics, you'll be able to detect and monitor trends in your market, know how your customers perceive your brand, what product each segment of your audience looks for. It will serve you to make decisions on the spot and, at the same time, plan with greater assertiveness. 


6- Retargeting: Drive different strategies to impact again, with ads of their interest, those customers who abandoned a cart or who maybe saw some product on your site but didn't decide to buy. 


7- Use predictive analysis: It's nothing more than the ability that Big Data provides to predict what the customer may need, perhaps without them having even tried to look for it. The system is based on sales history, age, sex, what similar customers look for and economic indicators. It's not magic. It's Big Data and its analysis.


8- Dynamic pricing: It's a strategy especially used by airlines and online travel agencies. By collecting browsing-time data, you'll be able to offer a discount valid for a few minutes, to plant the sense of urgency in the customer so they convert now.


You've now been able to see just a part of the enormous possibilities that Big Data offers you to boost your e-commerce. Don't wait any longer and train with those who know, so you can be a leader in data analysis and take your e-commerce to a new level.

If you'd like to keep exploring this topic, you can also read how to use Copilot in Excel to analyze data without being an analyst.

Recommended Coderhouse courses

If you want to go deeper into data analysis and applied artificial intelligence, Coderhouse has programs for all levels:

• Data Analytics Course: to learn to analyze data, build dashboards and make decisions based on real information.

• AI Engineering Course: to incorporate AI and machine learning models into your data projects.

• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Course: to understand the AI ecosystem and complement your data profile with knowledge about language models.