Can I ask you something frankly? What is #BIGDATA? Honestly. What is it? Why are people going on about it and offering solutions that don’t really mean anything in simple English and further, those solutions are hardly tangible and worse yet, so subjective. Why does #BIGDATA sound so impressive and humongous? Isn’t it supposed to help us? Isn’t data supposed to be a tool that will make our functions and processes come alive?
Today, I want to go beyond data. I want to go beyond the science of gathering information i.e. numbers and making them look impressive. I want to get into the thick of the culture that surrounds behaviours and habits of people. Data is nothing but an apt representation of the daily habits of people strongly woven by the thread of culture. People express their needs through their daily behaviour and actions. Sensing these unspoken needs is perhaps the definition of #BigData for retailers of this generation.
For our generation of retailers, it is imperative that we have a thought that drives the information and knowledge we set out to acquire for our customers.It is called Insight.
Let me elaborate. We have a lot of online visitiors and shoppers. We investigated into their behaviours and needs. We segregated needs based on – Time behaviour, Zodiac behaviour, Temperature and weather – to create a mechanism that will automatically suggest the product that will be a sure shot purchase. A cool Aloe Vera will sound very cool and be part of any Mumbaikar’s shopping cart at this moment but a customer logging in from Tiruvananthapuram will want an anti-bacterial solution such as Tea Tree soap.
I believe a retailer needs to document a customer’s behaviour and create patterns in our e-commerce suggestions of products that will be a sure shot sellers.
Data sensing is this creative art of forming different structures from the building blocks of data. And that is the future.
Information can be bought and knowledge can be acquired. It is the thought behind the insight that is important. For example. music is a universal language. Have you wondered why a person loves similar genres of music? It’s because the notes underlying in those tunes are created from a single instrument. This tells me as to how people subconsciously like unique things.
We set out to find that unique instrument based on which we could segregate the liking of each customer flawlessly. Brains were stormed to no effect. We were just about to storm out when the idea of ‘Zodiac signs’ struck our minds. We decided to try it out. The outcome, astonishing!
Isn’t it amazing how most Leos shop between midnight and 3 am for sensuous aromas like rose while thousands of Virgos are our 9 am customers as they look for products like lavender to manage their state of mind? So my challenge with information is to produce enough evidence that will help us create concrete insights to provide our customers with the right thing at the right time.
Now, we have a 72% accuracy rate and sure shot automated sales!
#BigData should help you to become BIG. And it should work for your customer by adding value to their life. #IntentMatters.
