In 2016, less than 50% of companies had invested in Big Data technologies. While still in its relative infancy in the business world, Big Data is fast becoming a big deal in the business world. Some companies are already way head of the game and are already showing the late adopters how it should be done. Here are three companies that are doing this whole Big Data thing right.
Tesco.
British grocery powerhouse Tesco has been using Big Data since back in 1995. Hailed as one of the biggest turning points in the retailer’s history, the Clubcard loyalty scheme tipped 15-million members in the UK in 2010.
Every time you go through the checkout at Tesco and swipe your Clubcard, the retailer gets a little more information about your profile as a customer, learning exactly what you buy and when. You get rewarded with money off coupons and Tesco continues to build a profile of you as a customer.
If you pop into Tesco on a Friday night after work to grab a quick meal and bottle of fizz, Tesco’s Big Data supercomputer logs that information. The same goes for when you buy fuel or if you do your big grocery shop for the week.
All of this data is added to your profile in their systems.
Smart algorithms then make cross and up-sell suggestions to you in the form of marketing materials.
If you always purchase a particular type of breakfast cereal and that brand just bought out a new flavour, you may get an email about it, or a money off coupon.
This has turned the supermarket chain into a particularly well-oiled machine when it comes to Big Data.
Amazon.
We’ve all bought something off Amazon, only to have the e-commerce giant send you an email a day or two later with: “customers like you also bought…” or “you might like this…”
If you’ve just bought a new TV from Amazon, chances are you might need a few new HDMI cables to go with it, or perhaps a subscription to Amazon Video. These obvious link-sells are Big Data analytics in its most basic form, just on a huge Amazon-sized scale.
This kind of information means Amazon can be very precise in their marketing to tempt you away from your local electronics store for your cabling needs. As buyers, we’re very lazy and it’s easier to make one single order than two or three.
Netflix.
Netflix has become a standard part of most evenings in many households across the globe. With 65 million subscribers the world over, Netflix viewers consume more than 100 million hours of TV and movies every day.
If you’ve just emerged from a 10-hour binge, Netflix – in all its worldly goodness – will then throw up ‘More Shows Like This’. Before you know it, it’s 3am, there are crumbs and chocolate wrappers everywhere and you can barely keep your eyes open.
To create this high level of addiction, Netflix are doing something really impressive behind the scenes.
Tracking your viewing patterns, building a profile of the kind of shows you like, stuff you skip over and what you watch over and over again to come up with your next favorite show is Big Data at its finest.
Based on what other viewers ‘like you’ (in terms of viewing habits) are watching, Netflix will suggest the shows and movies you’re likely to enjoy watching.
How Netflix use something as simple as your viewing habits to fuel their industry leading analytics engine make them a true Big Data giant.
Could some of these Big Data pioneers’ methods of using data apply to your company? Have you thought about a loyalty scheme like Tesco to reward your customers? Are there any glaringly obvious products you sell that go well with another that you could package together? Could some of your customers’ buying habits apply to others like Netflix’s viewing habit patterns?
