For as long as I can remember, my mother would be the first one out the door for Black Friday Sales and spend days at malls shopping for the best price on Christmas gifts. For most people this is a pretty typical example of how holiday shopping gets done.
With technology becoming increasingly more popular and almost everyone owning a smartphone, holiday shopping is going mobile. Google shows that over half of this year’s holiday shoppers planned to buy their gifts online. As Big Data continues to aid companies in advertising more accurately, the online shopping experience is easier and more accessible than ever before.
Now that online is becoming the preferred method of shopping, the mad rush in the stores is all but gone. People are saving time by conveniently shopping on their smartphones or from their home computer. But of course with an upside always comes a downside. The more people shop online, the harder mail deliverers have to work to get those gifts to their homes by Christmas.
Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx workers are putting in extra long hours of hard labor to ensure you a merry Christmas morning, so please be kind to your mail man and thank him or her for their sacrifice this holiday season!
With Big Data continuing to make its mark in numerous different industries and the internet Of Things on the rise, what can we expect to see out of them in the future?
This time of year everyone starts to predict what the future will hold, what trends will be all the rage and whose products will be the most successful. It is pretty safe to say that Big Data will continue to be improved and utilized in more ways in the future. The Internet Of Things is definitely on the rise, but what can we expect from it in this upcoming year?
Big data is characterized by an extremely large set of data that must be filtered through by countless algorithms until it takes an understandable form. Big Data is utilized in many different areas, but one that tends to stand out is in marketing. Marketing researchers love Big Data because it is a much more effective way to receive consumer feedback. People no longer have to take surveys to let companies know how they feel because companies simply study their consumers habits. By observing consumer trends, companies have a much better understanding of what their buyers like and dislike about their products.
Many companies use this information and apply it to their consumers as a whole, but not all consumers are the same. Everyone is unique which makes every consumer’s trends different. Although Big Data has worked wonders for marketing research, these marketing specialists are beginning to realize they need to take Big Data to the next level. The idea of using Big Data in marketing was to better advertise to individual consumers based on their unique preferences. In order for marketing specialists to optimize their ability to target specific demographics they must use Segmented Data.
Segmented Data is big data that has been categorized based on similar groups. With segmented Data companies can receive data on all of the consumers who are all moms, or video game lovers, or outdoor enthusiasts. With this sort of organized data, companies know to advertise not only outdoor gear to the outdoor enthusiasts, but based on their shopping history- specific shoes, backpacks, tents, etc. Segmented Data allows companies to treat all of their consumers like individuals, making it easier for consumers to find what they are looking for and their overall shopping experience more enjoyable.
Segmented Data is something we will be seeing more of as Big Data continues to make a name for itself in all different industries. To learn more about the different ways Big Data is branching out,
I recently heard on the radio that parents are now using “Elf on the shelf” to make their kids behave better. Elf on the shelf is a fun little game families have begun playing where they place a little elf doll in different places of the house every night- giving kids the illusion that elf is real. Parents are beginning to take this sweet holiday tradition and use it to make their children believe that Elf is always watching.
Parents have always used little tactics to help control their kids, like Santa Clause knowing if you are naughty or nice, we simply need a little white lie every now and then to help us out.
Is this now being taken too far? How do we know when we have crossed the line?
Mattel has just introduced it’s latest Barbie doll and not only is it highly fashionable, but she can actually talk. Yes, that is right, your child can now play with a Barbie doll who can hold full conversations with them as well as remember your child’s key interests. When the new Barbie hears your child speak, she sends the data to a computer that records the message, and then relays the correct response back to Barbie.
In theory this may seem like another Big Data success; woohoo! a toy that can finally act as a play buddy for my child! Not so fast, everything your child says to Barbie gets recorded and stored by Mattel. This means that not only do the people working at Mattel have direct access to speak to your child at any time, in the safety of your home, but they also will use everything your child says for research.
Personally, I think this is one of the creepiest ways to use Big Data. The new talking Barbie is more invasive than any of the tracking companies do on the internet. So if you are thinking about getting your little one a talking Barbie this Christmas, think twice, or you may be putting your child in a potentially manipulative situation.
Even the most successful CEO out there is still human. No one person is perfect, we all display human characteristics and flaws. It is because of this that science uses objective data in their tests, because subjective allows for personal opinions. Objective data is the only information that is 100% unbiased truth. So how do businesses get this type of objective data?
By Using Big Data.
Companies that use Big Data allow themselves to see the hard truths about their company that they themselves would overlook. When we put hard work into something, we don’t want to see anything wrong with it which makes it hard for us to see when there are issues. Big Data is the fresh set of eyes that can examine all of the nook and crannies of your business to inspect the problem areas we would not catch on our own.
The other great think about Big Data is that it is cross cultural. Instead of trying to convince a company in China that you are successful by talking with them, it is much more impressive to simply show them the data. Put your entire operation into data form and it can be read across any language. Measuring success with data is a great way to standardize the definition of what it means to be successful.
Big Data has proven time and time again to be a necessary tool in the business world. So what are you waiting for? Go out and get started with Big Data!
Recent Comments