How Big Data And Analytics Impact Your Merchant Clients
By Conor Mason, contributing writer
IDC released the report “Business Strategy: Big Data and Analytics Lay the Foundation for Revenue Growth.” According to a press release, the report “presents a framework for understanding generations of product intelligence, leading to a new paradigm — participatory commerce.”
FashionStake’s Daniel Gulati describes participatory commerce for Mashable as a sales model that allows shoppers to participate in the design, selection or funding of the products they purchase. The IDC predicts Within five years, “’give-to-get’ shoppers, combined with forces like supply chain collaboration among retailers and brands, self-learning intelligent agents, and autonomous event-processing, product intelligence will lead to participatory commerce.”
The report states in 2013, approximately 50 percent of retailers were applying Big Data and Analytics (BDA) to developing pricing strategies, market intelligence, and acquiring new customers. The report also states more retailers are planning to leverage BDA in the next two to three years.
One focus of the IDC report is product intelligence. Greg Girard, program director at IDC Retail Insights stated, “In particular, one application of product intelligence, price discovery, gives retailers a countermeasure versus the ‘spy versus spy’ price transparency of retail today. Next generation product intelligence in consumer decision making, competitor tactics, and market conditions will propel BDA-based initiatives beyond pricing, further into marketing assortments, buying and product development.”
Using the 2013 holiday shopping season as an illustration, the report also asserts using predictive analytics and real-time price management, supported by price discovery, “high speed algorithmic pricing” will change constraints and create “channel chess” competition.
With the retail market constantly changing, considering the impact of BDA on this market might give you some insight into your customers and their competition — which might give you an edge over your competition.