Does Big Data Affect Our Daily E-Commerce Experience? Posted on : Jun 02 - 2018

There’s no getting around it: the way marketers and retailers harness the power of big data can be a little on the creepy side. An innocent Google search on a specific subject can often result in you seeing nothing but targeted ads on that subject for the rest of the week wherever you turn.

Yet the truth is that the large sets of data collected on you – and everyone else that has a presence on the internet – isn’t for some nefarious purpose. When it comes to e-commerce, for example, the use of big data can have an enriching effect on your ability to find the things you need, easier and more quickly.

Here are the non-creepy advantages of big data when it comes to e-commerce.

Data Results in Personalization

Big data can be disconcerting when it’s used to serve up targeted ads when you’re not actively shopping. However, when you are looking for a specific product or service, it’s beneficial for e-commerce sites to have as much data on your internet habits as possible, as this means it will take a lot less time to find what you’re looking for by personalizing your search results. This is in your best interest — customers that find what they need are happy customers — as well as in the best interest of the site.

Tailoring results to what an e-commerce site thinks you’re looking for can be hit or miss, of course. If there’s not enough data, it’s harder to extrapolate — but a well-tuned algorithm, working with lots of data points, can be incredibly accurate. Instead of spending half an hour scrolling listlessly through an e-commerce site for what you need, you can find it in just a few minutes with big data algorithms feeding you targeted search results instead. Amazon is probably the leading e-commerce site when it comes to using big data for products’ recommendations. Its “customer who bought this item also bought…” feature has proven to be extremely effective and highly appreciated by the users over the years.

Simply put, big data means personalization, and that means a better overall shopping experience.

Evaluating Products

It’s no coincidence that nearly every e-commerce site out there, from Amazon to Zappos, encourages customers to provide detailed feedback on their purchases. Sometimes this feedback just tells you how satisfied a customer was by offering a rating — something that has garnered 4.5 stars is likely better than one that’s only gotten 3 stars, for instance. But it often goes much further than that, as customers often leave detailed reviews to tell prospective shoppers the specific benefits and drawbacks of a particular product. View More