By Asif Tarafdar
Big data helping brands usher in a new era of consumerism.
few years ago, an angry dad stormed into the retail store TARGET. He was fuming with rage. Upon inquiring, he claimed his daughter who is a high schooler, has been receiving coupons in the mail from the store for products like cribs and diapers. He accused the brand of encouraging her daughter, a minor to get pregnant. The store apologized for their blunder and both parties didn’t take things any further. A few days later, TARGET heard back from the father, he told them a few things has been going on in his house that he was previously unaware of. His daughter was actually pregnant and he owes them an apology. TARGET’s internal algorithm had been tracking and processing his daughter’s browsing history and her purchase of certain items like scent-free soaps and vitamin supplements triggered the system to infer that she could be pregnant. They were right, without being told, TARGET knew a girl was pregnant before her own father. It was facilitated by big data.
Infobesity: Information overload
If you haven’t been living under a rock, the chances are you have already heard about big data. There is no hiding from the industry’s favorite buzzword right now. The problem is, it has been misinformed and misinterpreted more than any new concept out there. To put it simply, big data is just a large collection of information. The collection is so large and complex that it becomes impossible for traditional data management tools to process. The overall internet usage across the world has grown exponentially over the past decade, which resulted in the accumulation of the amount of data previously unheard of. Every mail that you send, each like and share on Facebook, every picture that you upload is new information that is generated. Information generated by you is not only limited to your social media activities, but it also includes the websites you search and products that you browse in e-commerce websites. Big data also consists of the information created by Airline flights across the world, weather updates and patient data in hospitals. The magnitude of the data which is created every day is astonishing. Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the beginning of time to 2003. It is expected that by 2020 the total digital information that will be in existence will amount to 40 zettabytes. If all the data created in just one day is burned onto DVDs, the stack of DVDs would reach the moon twice. A large portion of this colossal database is created on social media sites. Every minute, we generate 1.8 million likes and upload 200 thousand photos on Facebook. Facebook users share 30 billion pieces of content every day. It would take a person 15 years to watch every video uploaded by users in a single day. At present, all the data centers around the world make up an area of about 6000 football fields. The numbers are overwhelming, literally. The amount of data is so enormous, that whoever is in the procession of it often fails to make meaningful conclusions about any individual. That doesn’t mean there is no one capable of harnessing its power. With the help of powerful analytical tools, companies are slowly starting to make sense of big data. At present brands are at the forefront of the digital revolution and they have learned how to make the best use of it.
Enhance Product Design
By now, most brands have realized how important big data is to remain relevant in the market. As competition gets stiffer, brands are looking to use data to edge past their rivals. The main focus of any brand remains the same, market the wants of customers. Big data empowers them to know exactly what their customers want. It has allowed brands to become more predictive rather than reactive to consumer trends. Big data has also enabled brands to take product personalization to a new height. Computer generated data helps companies to understand consumer behavior on a level unimaginable in the past. Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods is the latest example of how big data is changing product development. Being the biggest retailer in America, Amazon already has consumer data of the entire country. They analyze this data to understand how people make grocery shopping decisions and how the suppliers interact with grocers. This data gives insights whenever there is a need to implement further changes. More and more Bangladeshi brands are incorporating big data in their operations.
Data Analysis: Big Brands Making Big Bucks
In recent times, big data is credited with Coca-Cola’s impressive customer acquisition and brand loyalty. The company managed to strengthen its data strategy by building a digital-led loyalty program. Coca-Cola’s director of strategy didn’t beat around the bush, admitting data analysis is strongly behind the brand loyalty of Coca Cola. He asserted “Consumers do a great job of sharing their opinions with us – either by phone, email or social networks – that allow us to hear their voice and adjust our approach”. Brands no longer lose millions of dollars on failed marketing campaigns. The advertisers are now able to make a more sophisticated analysis of big data available to them. Customer insight enables them to come up with more focused and targeted campaigns. A more targeted campaign means businesses can save money and ensure efficiency. Netflix is a great example of a brand that uses big data analytics for targeted advertising. The company collects an enormous amount of data from its 100 million subscribers. Netflix suggests its subscribers of the next movie they should watch. Basically, this is done using their past search and watch data. This data is used to give them insights on what interests the subscriber most. Big data has also amplified the ability of brands to innovate and re-develop their products. This has ensured greater revenue for the brand and higher customer satisfaction. Brands collect as much as data possible before designing a product, it helps them to manufacture what exactly fits the customers.
Big Data in Bangladesh: Potential Unexplored
Recently, Chevron Bangladesh has invested heavily in data analysis technology. It enabled them to become more accurate in deducing the daily output in their power plants. Perhaps, the greatest and most frequent users of big data in Bangladesh are the mobile phone companies. Their campaigns and promotions are designed based on past usage data. The highly personalized package offers points to increased use of personal customer data. However, mobile phone companies have been ineffective in utilizing big data. They comprise the world’s 15th largest subscriber base with more than 90 million users. Considering the amount of information that is being generated by individual subscribers, contemporary usage has been rather underwhelming. Operators can cash in on the GPS data amassed from users. It also provides opportunities for small business entities like restaurants to target new customers. GPS data can also be used to bolster traffic management system in Dhaka. Perhaps, the organizations which are in possession of most underused data are commercial banks. They have access to rich accurate customer data, which can be used to enhance customer experience. Until now, banks have failed to translate big data into anything meaningful.
Privacy concerns & Way Forward
It is time to address the elephant in the room, Privacy. Big data is definitely helping brands, but how much is it helping consumers? Are the privacy risks just too much to let go of the benefits? Let’s start with when big data becomes a problem. The websites that collect data about customers are in possession of a massive amount of personal data that they can store indefinitely. So, there is a possibility that your embarrassing pictures from 2008 will live on in the depths of Facebook servers forever. This puts your entire internet history in danger of falling into the hands of any nefarious character. Even if you are not involved in anything illegal or remotely unethical, you will not be thrilled if some shady entity puts every piece of information about you online. On the other hand, big data—and the companies making a business out of managing it—are paving the way towards some great innovations in science, technology, and medicine. The brands are using big data to design products that make our lives significantly better. Big data has made existing products more effective and promises to revolutionize the consumer experience. It is a powerful tool that can change the individual experiences of different products in the future. Right now, there is only one aspect of big data that needs to be sorted out, Control. The lack of control we have on our online data and the amount of control big corporations have over them. There needs to be an international consensus about how much and how long companies can store our personal data and in what capacity they can use them.
