Retailers know they need Big Data and are charging forward to get in the game. But many retailers continue to face challenges. What type of data should be collected? How should the data be used to generate insights? How do I measure ROI?

101data recently surveyed US retailers, across a range of sizes. When asked about which processes would be most impacted by Big Data technology, 50% stated that targeted offers and promotions would have the biggest impact. Responses included:

However, while retailers see the potential, many are holding back on implementing Big Data initiatives. The biggest reasons cited were that retailers need to better understand how Big Data can solve their business problems (46%) and the cost of complexity of implementing Big Data solutions needs to come down (42%).

Nevertheless, retailers still believe Big Data is important for staying competitive. Most of the respondents categorized Big Data initiatives as important (38%), followed by very important (35%), or moderately important (23%), with just 4% stating that Big Data initiatives are of little importance or unimportant.

Data-as-a-Service is increasingly being used by retailers in marketing to harness Big Data insights  and without the heavy investment in a Big Data implementation. DaaS is a service approach in which a vendor sources unique and Hard-to-Find data from the Big Data ecosystem. This data is then structured to deliver a constant stream of in-market shoppers who are actively searching for products a retailer (or their competitors) are selling. Retailers can target shoppers with immediate, relevant offers, such as dynamic pricing, personalized recommendations, shopper-specific discounts and more.