Retailers Embrace the Power of Big Data
"Big Data" is well on its way to becoming the consumer goods industry's biggest buzzword in 2012. And, beneath the hype, retailers are also beginning to harness the power of Big Data, according to a new research study from Edgell Knowledge Network (EKN): State of the Industry Research Series: Big Data in Retail.
"While the report identifies the barriers to Big Data adoption, it also indicates that retailers are beginning measured experiments in Big Data, which could spur growth in this area over the next 12-24 months," says Gaurav Pant, research director, EKN. "Big Data is a real opportunity, and smart retailers are cautiously setting themselves up for success. If retailers can avoid getting caught up in the semantics of Big Data definitions, and focus instead on what decisions are valuable to their business, Big Data can be the game-changer it is touted to be."
Highlights of the report include:
- Though 80 percent of respondents were aware of Big Data, the depth of understanding is low. More than half of the respondents said they do not understand Big Data’s impact on their business — and most retailers do not know how much structured and unstructured data they currently store.
- Nearly 60 percent of retailers surveyed already have a Big Data strategy or are building one. However, only 30 percent of retailers have done a Big Data proof of concept (POC), indicating that retailers are just beginning to understand the implications of Big Data.
- Surveyed retailers identified marketing, merchandising and multi-channel as the three highest impact areas to consider for a Big Data pilot or POC; they also ranked these areas as experiencing the highest data growth.
- Only a third of the respondents rated their analytics maturity as high. This is especially significant, as EKN’s research indicated a strong positive correlation between analytics maturity and Big Data adoption.
Underwritten by MicroStrategy and Tata Consultancy Services, the study includes detailed recommendations on how retailers can approach Big Data, including a maturity assessment framework and a Big Data roadmap.
The report was based on research using EKN's Pulse360 methodology, including a survey of 75-plus retailers, in-person interviews with senior retail leaders, and validation of the findings and recommendations by EKN’s Advisory Council.
To download the EKN report, click here.