Retailers Developing New Capabilities for Big Data Analysis: Study

Three out four retailing professionals believe that big-data-driven capabilities are required to execute competitive omnichannel strategies, according to a new study from Brick Meets Click.

“Retailers are developing new capabilities on both the supply and demand side of the business using big data,” said Bill Bishop, chief architect of Brick Meets Click and the lead author of the study, "How the Game is Changing: Big Data in Retail." “More and more companies are establishing the business case for big data and beginning to measure the benefits.”

Among the key findings from the new report:

• More than 70 percent believe that competitive advantage will come from faster decision-making enabled by predictive analysis.
• Personalizing offers is the biggest opportunity to connect more effectively with customers.
• More than half of current projects focus on optimizing delivery of customer messages and generating shopper insights.
• Inventory optimization and supplier collaboration are the most important opportunities on the supply side.
• Lack of organizational readiness remains the biggest barrier to taking advantage of big data opportunities

“For the first time since we’ve been tracking big data attitudes among retailing professionals, social media and website data have gained parity with item-level sales and shopper transaction data as a source of customer insights,” said Bishop. “This is important since nearly half of those surveyed expressed concern that access to this type of customer data may be restricted in the future.”