eMarketer: Retailers see big data as a boon to e-commerce

Less than one in five retail managers are unaware of “big data”

Executives continue to debate the potential benefits and pitfalls of “big data,” the idea of ​​collecting and analyzing vast amounts of information — not just about consumer behavior but also about transactions and internal operations — that holds promise for retailers to further expand their businesses.

A survey of North American retail managers conducted by Edgell Knowledge Network, a research and content services company, from May to June 2012 found that only 17% of retail managers were unaware of the concept of "big data." The rest of the respondents had varying degrees of familiarity with "big data," with 10% saying they understood the concept of "big data" but were unsure how it would affect retail.

Retailers believe they will benefit most from “big data” in the areas of e-commerce and multi-channel procurement, with 62% of respondents citing these areas, followed by marketing (60%), merchandising (44%) and supply chain (29%).

Retailers have been dealing with large amounts of data for a long time, with tasks such as barcoding and inventory management requiring information analysis for years. But "big data" also poses challenges for retailers who think they have good data analysis capabilities. Among respondents, 46% said that dealing with large amounts of data is their biggest challenge, while 34% said that the sheer number of data types takes up a lot of their attention, and 20% said that data is generated too frequently and is a hassle for them.

More than half of retailers have already developed a "big data" strategy or are in the process of developing one. However, only about three in ten retailers have implemented or are about to implement such a strategy. Due to the considerable potential returns of data analysis, quite a few retailers have set aside budget space for "big data" strategies, with 44% of respondents saying they have already made a budget for "big data" strategies or plan to make one in the next two years.

What are the factors that prevent retailers from investing more resources in the field of "big data"? The potential benefits and return on investment are still unclear, and nearly half of the respondents said that these issues are their biggest challenges and their biggest concerns about "big data".