Big data or big data refers to complex data sets that are generated en masse and at high speed, for example, the online activity of all web users. These characteristics make their analysis almost impossible through conventional databases.
It is as if we were trying to graph the activity of the 500,000 new daily users of Facebook with an Excel document.
That is why a technology capable of working with this large amount of disorganized data is needed. This is where big data comes in to quickly and efficiently analyze this large amount of data to find patterns and draw solid conclusions. Big data is characterized by the speed at which it processes information, the variety of data it works with and its volume.
And what does this have to do with me?
Everything we do on the web, and sometimes off it, generates data, although most of the time you don’t realize it. That is why companies are finding a great advantage in using big data to connect with their consumers, because they now have devices that allow them to know what their customers need even before they know it themselves.
For example, in 2012 journalist Charles Duhigg published a story about the time the Target store discovered a teen pregnancy before the entire family. How did this happen? Because the company is based on a method of promotion based on behavior (OBA for its acronym in English).
This means that every purchase you make at Target is recorded under your Consumer ID. In the case of this young woman, the store detected 25 items purchased over a month, including nausea pills and snacks that the family did not usually buy, these products analyzed together led the algorithm to determine that the client was pregnant.
Soon the young woman’s family began receiving discount coupons for strollers and onesies. Soon after, the young woman’s mother contacted the store manager to complain about these insensitive recommendations, only to call him again a couple of weeks later to apologize, because her daughter was pregnant after all.
The next step in market segmentation
Although this example from 2012 caused a stir on social networks, today it is the way almost all advertising tools on the web work every day. Due to the number of users and the variety of activities they carry out, there are almost as many market niches as there are users.
This phenomenon is called hypersegmentation. It means that every aspect of your behavior, geographical area and even physical characteristics contribute to brands assigning you a consumer profile.
All this is done thanks to all the information generated by your online activity. Suppose you order coffee pods the second week of every month from Amazon, this simple decision tells your browser:
1) that you are an online buyer,
2) that you like coffee and drink it regularly,
3) that you prefer a certain brand, of a certain price. In other words, a purchase tells the internet your consumption habits, your brand preferences and even your budget.