 "Precision tool to get speed on e-commerce profit road")
Precise prediction is the latest buzzword in the e-commerce sector in the country, as companies compete with each other to retain customers and attract new ones.
Now, as e-commerce firms look to cutting on discounts and start making money, this has become even more important.
The tool, precision analytics, is enabling e-commerce players to deliver goods soon after getting an order, offer multiple time-band options for delivery, study buying patterns and prompt the buyer even before they decide to click.
One such e-commerce company, Snapdeal, believes that delivering exactly at the time promised is more important than delivering before time.
The company has now come out with a specialised "online logistics platform" that will offer five time-bands from which a shopper can choose one. The logistics platform will be integrated with all partners to maintain an end-to-end visibility of the order.
"We look at delivery as an essential part of customer experience. Customers want to know the precise time of delivery. Our promised timelines are one-and-half days lower than Amazon and two-and-half days lower than Flipkart,'' said Jayant Sood, chief customer experience officer, Snapdeal.
According to Sood, the company meets its forecast 99 per cent of the time.
The marketplace arm of India's largest mobile wallet, Paytm, which has been trying to reinforce its presence in e-commerce, has a team of data scientists studying every move of its customers, so that they can predict the buying pattern and serve them better.
The company has setup Paytm Lab, which has a team of 30 data scientists placed in Toronto (Canada) which uses predictive data analysis to study the preferences of the customer. Client retention has always been important for Paytm, says its vice-president Sudhanshu Gupta. "We already have a repeat usage of 60 per cent. …. Our data scientists in Toronto uses analytics to study the buying pattern of customers, make the user experience interactive and give suggestions on what they should buy accordingly," he said.
In fact, American e-commerce company Amazon has been at the forefront in predictive analysis to study customer buying trends.
Not to be left behind, newer and smaller players in the market are relying on predictive tools, too.
"We have realised that most Indians use Google and Facebook and we are continuously engaging with them there and tracking effectively," said Kiran Murthi, CEO, Askmebazaar.com. The company is using analytics to offer items which are based on the searches and previous buys of users. "At present, we have a 43 per cent repeat buying rate within 60 days."
The company has also zeroed in on a number of postal codes from where they see maximum sales happening and are now offering four hour express deliveries by using hyperlocal vendors.
Similarly Gurgaon-based online marketplace Shopclues has, in the past few months, invested significantly in enhancing its analytical capabilities around customer retention. The company is using various business intelligence software to store and process big data around customer transactions, according to Madhur Chaturvedi, AVP- strategy and customer experience, Shopclues. Will all this translate into good business? For now, these internet businesses are hoping it would.
Now, as e-commerce firms look to cutting on discounts and start making money, this has become even more important.
The tool, precision analytics, is enabling e-commerce players to deliver goods soon after getting an order, offer multiple time-band options for delivery, study buying patterns and prompt the buyer even before they decide to click.
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Data scientists are in demand, too, as these companies shift their focus to currencies such as interactive shopping and customer loyalty in their road to profitability, moving away from gross merchandise value or GMV - the old online metric.
One such e-commerce company, Snapdeal, believes that delivering exactly at the time promised is more important than delivering before time.
The company has now come out with a specialised "online logistics platform" that will offer five time-bands from which a shopper can choose one. The logistics platform will be integrated with all partners to maintain an end-to-end visibility of the order.
"We look at delivery as an essential part of customer experience. Customers want to know the precise time of delivery. Our promised timelines are one-and-half days lower than Amazon and two-and-half days lower than Flipkart,'' said Jayant Sood, chief customer experience officer, Snapdeal.
According to Sood, the company meets its forecast 99 per cent of the time.
The marketplace arm of India's largest mobile wallet, Paytm, which has been trying to reinforce its presence in e-commerce, has a team of data scientists studying every move of its customers, so that they can predict the buying pattern and serve them better.
The company has setup Paytm Lab, which has a team of 30 data scientists placed in Toronto (Canada) which uses predictive data analysis to study the preferences of the customer. Client retention has always been important for Paytm, says its vice-president Sudhanshu Gupta. "We already have a repeat usage of 60 per cent. …. Our data scientists in Toronto uses analytics to study the buying pattern of customers, make the user experience interactive and give suggestions on what they should buy accordingly," he said.
In fact, American e-commerce company Amazon has been at the forefront in predictive analysis to study customer buying trends.
Not to be left behind, newer and smaller players in the market are relying on predictive tools, too.
"We have realised that most Indians use Google and Facebook and we are continuously engaging with them there and tracking effectively," said Kiran Murthi, CEO, Askmebazaar.com. The company is using analytics to offer items which are based on the searches and previous buys of users. "At present, we have a 43 per cent repeat buying rate within 60 days."
The company has also zeroed in on a number of postal codes from where they see maximum sales happening and are now offering four hour express deliveries by using hyperlocal vendors.
Similarly Gurgaon-based online marketplace Shopclues has, in the past few months, invested significantly in enhancing its analytical capabilities around customer retention. The company is using various business intelligence software to store and process big data around customer transactions, according to Madhur Chaturvedi, AVP- strategy and customer experience, Shopclues. Will all this translate into good business? For now, these internet businesses are hoping it would.