Big Data is the key to accurate analytics and insight-generation on a company-wide scale. But what exactly is it and how can organisations benefit from it?
For the retail industry in particular, the prevailing customer sentiments determine the latest trends that inform decision making. This includes everything from product design and manufacturing, to marketing messages. This means that accurate and up-to-date customer analytics and intent predictions are a key competitive advantage for any organisation that relies on customer loyalty.
We have seen an increased focus on analytics as a necessity for all industries. But particularly for retail, where accurate and up-to-date insights are critical to meet customer demand that rapidly fluctuates. But before we can break down the benefits, it is useful to define the term.
What is Big Data?
Investopedia define Big Data as:
“Big Data refers to the large, diverse sets of information that grow at ever-increasing rates.”
In simple terms, we look at 3 ‘V’s when discussing Big Data: Volume, Velocity and Variety. For retailers, this describes the amount of information held on their customers, their business transactions, stock, and employees.
The 3 Vs can make analysing company or customer information to unearth the value behind the raw numbers difficult. With so much information, it can be impossible to know what is valuable and what isn’t. A concern for most organisations is the validity of any information held. Can you be sure that there are no duplicated or inaccurate pieces of information in your database?
This is where master data management systems can help parse information from across multiple systems to discover insights that can improve decision making from marketing to stock and manufacturing decisions. For more information about how proper management and organisation can help retailers discover their best customers, read this article.
Check out the infographic below for more information on the power of data and how retailers in particular can benefit from this valuable, mostly untapped, resource. To discuss your current strategy or to arrange an audit to discover how you can do more, contact us today.
