Big Data in Nigeria’s Retail Industry

In recent times, customers expect personalization. They expect seamless experiences between online channels and physical stores. If they can’t easily make a purchase, they’ll leave for a different retail store. Big data can solve these problems for retail brands looking to increase sales and customer satisfaction.

The use ofBig data describes a large volume of data that is used to reveal patterns and trends, especially relating to human behavior and interactions. Historically, it has been defined by three key factors: volume, velocity, and variety. For the retail industry, big data means a greater understanding of consumer shopping habits and how to attract new customers. Big data analytics in retail enables companies to create custom recommendations based on their purchase history, resulting in personalized shopping experiences. These super-sized data sets also help with forecasting trends and making strategic decisions based on market analysis.

Predicting Spending

One of the most common ways that big data is collected in the retail industry is through loyalty cards and programs. These days, it’s also collected through credit card transactions, IP addresses, user log-ins but in Nigeria, the case is different where the use of consumer shopping/discount cards seems to be the most effective way of retrieving data. As more information is collected, retail businesses can analyze the ebb and flow of shopping and spending by consumers historically to predict future spending and make personalized recommendations. For instance, Amazon uses big data to recommend items based on past searches and purchases. They generated 29 percent of sales through their recommendations engine which analyzes more than 150 million accounts. This has led to big profits for the eCommerce giant.

In addition to big data, some algorithms analyze social media and web browsing trends to predict the next big thing in the retail industry. The customer journey is not a straight line. It’s a zig-zag across channels from research to purchase. The only way to get a handle on the customer journey and create better experiences is to use big data. Big data can help retailers chain stores answer questions such as: Where are customers looking for product information? Why are they losing them? What are the most effective ways to reach them and compel them to purchase?

Retail outlets should be constantly looking for the competitive edge–better ways to reach customers, more efficient customer journeys and opportunities to proactively meet customer needs using thousands of de-identified transactions to answer competitive analysis questions. To ask a question, how many active consumers can you identify in your retail store?