Srikanth
Reading the customer’s mind must have been the eternal dream of market players, but surely, that would have required some divine intervention or some supernatural power few years back. Things have changed so profoundly that reading your mind is no longer a matter of psychic power but of rigorous analytics, powered by big data. Yes, you are reading it right, big data can literally read your mind and predict your next move as a customer. E-commerce universe stands on the shifting and fluid demands of customer behavior.
So, for them, getting information beforehand regarding customer movement is tantamount to discovering a goldmine because now, empowered by big data, you can surprise the customer with the necessary even before the customer can reach the product. It is not the opinion of a particular company or a person, but every single retail chain that works around the world are trying to harness big data for this particular reason. Since the moment algorithm has come into the world of big data, guesswork has gone out of the window and you have accurate predictions in your hands.
The shifting network of sales
Gone are the days where from the smallest retail, customer feedback would arrive to the centre and then, based on some amount of feedback and a lot of guesswork, new products and new marketing models were decided. However, that approach is well and truly gone since internet provides a unique scenario where the customer is directly connected to the retail centre through data and hence, collecting and analysing behavioural data become easier than ever. Hence, from design to market, from service to sale- everywhere, customer opinion becomes the final word.
Surely, the power balance has shifted because of analytics and customers are now the most powerful group in terms of market decisions. In fact, not simply customer behaviour, but the very behaviour of the market can be tracked for further enhancement of decisions, especially in regions where there are multiple ecommerce platforms and a huge buyer pool. In fact, when studied properly, they can reveal valuable insights about particular societies, their buying tendencies and a lot more.
Creating needs for new markets
In fact, the days are gone when marketing was about satisfying customer needs. Now, by predicting what the customer can buy or could have bought, need is being created so that the desire for a particular product, so latent in the customer’s heart, can suddenly grow out of proportion and you end up buying it. For example, products that were popular abroad few years back and hence, were designed for those kinds of cultures, are suddenly becoming popular in the home country. However, the consumers want the product to suit their culture and their needs. Such new needs can only be met when there is big data helping out, decoding the needs for the companies to understand what to read between the lines.
This new form of manufacturing that incorporates predictive analytics is part of the new waves of market that are splashing on the shore of the market. With so many entrepreneurs using the internet as a business platform, the new form of retail will be truly exciting since accessing big data does not require the strength of a behemoth company.
A combined effort is the key
If you think that a particular organization or a specific group of people are urging such changes, then you are suffering from delusion. All the big names are iterating the same points and the same ideas. Internet is like the magic ear that lets you hear every single voice out there and you can get the quickest possible product display based on your predicted needs. Moreover, the design of the product is also a major concern. Further information can be gained when you intervene through the multiple customer databases and trace the divergence of their choices and opinions.
So much so, even in countries like India and Philippines, where informal sectors are immense and people still rely heavily on them. So, connectivity, banking sectors and other such infrastructures are majorly absent. Still, these countries are adapting to the changes quicker than ever and they may probably be biggest and the most powerful market spaces in the years to come.
