Showroomers are often considered as “the enemy” but latest business trends show that worrying about them is unnecessary. Showrooming is a purchasing pattern in which consumers visit stores to check out a product and then go online to track it down elsewhere at the lowest price. For example, companies like Best Buy are losing out on customers to Amazon because of this shopping practice. It is safe to say that the number of smartphone users is huge and constantly growing. The capabilities and features of smartphones play a majore role in increasing showrooming.

“On showroomers, a study found that 48 percent use the store to research products with no plans of making a purchase. About a quarter plan on making a purchase inside the store but get “turned off” by prices, lack of sales help, etc. and wind up making the purchase later online. A third use mobile devices to search prices and find product information in-store. On the positive side, 58 percent visit online communities more than once a day and over half write a positive review. They’re also typically young, 18 to 34; typically male; affluent; and global, with the largest percent of showroomers in India, China and Japan.” – excerpt from RetailWire.

Experts are suggesting that instead of dreading this segment of shoppers, they should be targeted instead. Many businesses are trying to find ways to convert showroomers into paying customers. Recently, the upscale consignment sneaker store Fight Club McPheters launched Swarm Mobile. It offers customers an app that pops up on their smartphones using Wi-Fi/3G as soon as they walk into a participating store. If customers click “yes,” a store-branded web app opens, and the retailer can track their web use and see what sites they’re visiting to check out price comparisons. Swarm can also be utilized to attract customers with on-the-spot deals and incentives, such as a free sweater with a purchase of $abc or more. By automatically loading all of Flight Club’s deals into the app, customers have valuable information they need at their fingertips, freeing up the sales staff for more personalized service. Fight Club seems to have increased their revenues with the implementation of this app so other businesses should tap into this potential. What do you think the limitations of/concerns/issues with this technology could be?

So what is ‘big data’? I’d heard this word being thrown around so often last year but I only just found out what it really means. Big data refers to a massive volume of both structure and unstructured data that is so large that it’s difficult to process using traditional database and software techniques. Data has flooded into every industry and business function and is now an important factor of production, alongside labor and capital. Big data can unlock significant value by making information transparent and usable at much higher frequency. For instance, data from blogs, social media networks, machine sensors, and location-based tools can help companies uncover facts and patterns they weren’t able to recognize in the past. Bid data analytics opens up infinite opportunities.

Leading companies are using data collection and analysis to conduct controlled experiments to make better management decisions. Others are using data for basic low-frequency forecasting to high-frequency nowcasting to adjust their business in time. Big data allows narrower segmentation of customers and therefore much more precisely tailored products or services. Big data can also be used to improve the development of the next generation of products and services. For example, several manufacturers such as Ford are using big data obtained from sensors embedded in products to improve their products as well as create innovative after-sales service offerings such as proactive maintenance. Therefore the effective use of big data will play a key role in giving individual firms a competitive advantage and in increasing productivity growth.

Of course, with every technological advancement come several issues such as policies related to privacy, security, intellectual property, and liability and these will need to be addressed in order to capitalize on the full potential of big data analytics.

Interesting fact: Obama used big data in his campaign to win the election.See how he did this HERE!