Big Data in Retail - How will it affect the job market?

Credit to Ria Davidson, People Source

So we’ve soared through the year of The Cloud, and are now excitedly entering the era of Big Data. It’s all over the news at the moment: BIG DATA for BIG BUSINESSES! We know what it is (masses of information gathered and stored somewhere in the ether for safe keeping…) and we all know that it is super trendy! But what is the meaning of this new trend and how will it affect the retail industry?

Targeted Marketing

Big Data isn’t just about a trendy new corporate innovation for big businesses to outdo their rivals with the latest in technological advancement - it is all about the consumer. It’s about driving growth through using the vast amount of information that everyday consumers provide unwittingly every time they browse online, be it on their computer, tablet or smartphone. Providing consumers with a customised shopping experience, one that is predictive of behaviours based on customers web interaction with their device. Everything you do online is recorded and used to tailor an advertising experience based on what you interact with most. Think about it – smart phone technology is advancing to a realm where your device can receive an advert about the most absorbent kitchen roll whilst you are wandering down the household section in your local superstore. It is estimated that our web based spend was over £5billion in 2013 -imagine the amount of people spending that money… Lots of juicy information for retailers to collate and use as part of their marketing strategy!

Retailers can move away from the ‘one size fits all’ marketing strategies of the past and design a more personalised shopping experience based on consumer behaviours, increasing the chance of buying, thus leading to an increased return.

The reaction to this will cause an increase in productivity behind the scenes. The forthcoming trend for same day shipping and high tech drones delivering packages within hours of ordering will cause more impulse buying. This is going to require significant man power, process management, and a huge amount of data management.

Man Power

That volume of data isn’t something that can just sit in a spreadsheet and be sorted into neat columns. It requires a system capable of managing the information in a way that it becomes a key part of the business marketing strategy and process improvement. This kind of Big Data will be overwhelming without the right people to turn the facts and figures into something useable.

To implement such a system will be a major project for a business that will require an entire technical team to manage; Project Managers, Architects, Developers, Business Intelligence Experts, Data Analysts.

According to the SAS Institute, approximately 69,000 big data specialists will be required across the private and public sector by 2017, with one third or major organisations adopting big data analytics programmes over the next 5 years.

This opens up a wealth of opportunity for people in the IT industry, but we are already facing a major skill shortage across the UK. Academic institutes, the Government and businesses need to work together to develop and nurture the skills required for these next generation projects. With the right planning and management, Big Data will really impact on business capability and profitability. Now is the time for IT professionals to up-skill and ingrain themselves in the new technology trend!

People Source have an extensive background recruiting within the IT sector, across multiple disciples and are currently placing both contract and permanent staff with clients who are in the process of implementing Big Data as part of their business strategy.

Rob Wright provides the very best web and mobile talent to some of Europe’s leading on-line retailers, digital agencies, social media/gaming organisations and Systems Integrators who are shaping the way we purchase goods, play games and communicate over the web and via mobile/tablet. 

His portfolio of talent includes E-commerce, Mobile and Big Data specialists throughout the full project lifecycle: Ecommerce Directors, Head of Online and Mobile, Ecommerce Managers, Programme Managers, Project managers, Big Data and Analytics specialists, Consultants, Business Analysts, Architects, IOS/Android/ Blackberry Developers, TDD, BDD, UI /UX Consultant and Testers.