Big brands track e-tailers' data for insight

KOLKATA: When Philips India recently launched a specially designed entry-level shaver targeted at male consumers in smaller towns, what convinced the Dutch firm about its market potential was data culled primarily from e-commerce and search sites, validated by its own research.

A Philips official said tracking sales and browsing data of such products helped the firm notice high interest in shavers in tier-II towns and the features and price range they were looking for, which convinced the firm to roll out a new product with a starting price of Rs 900, about 40% less than the previous entry-level product.Consumer electronics companies, smartphone makers, apparel and lifestyle brands are increasingly sourcing consumer data research from ecommerce firms on the back of rapid growth of online shopping and product searches in the country, pitting the likes of FK and Snapdeal against market research firms such as Nielsen and GfK.

"Big data gathering has been a key goal for major e-commerce players. Now that a significant data has been gathered, companies have started mining insights and actions from this big data," said Sachin Oswal, co-founder and chief operating officer of ecommerce firm Infibeam.

He said apparel and jewellery brands use "purchase data" of customers to plan new product styles, including material and colour, based on its analytics system while electronic brands are using it to plan inventory levels. Brands are also diving into the shopping history and reaching out to consumers via personalised newsletters and notifications, Oswal said.