COIT20253 Assessment 3: eBay Big Data Strategy Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of eBay's big data strategy, focusing on its application in optimizing customer relationships, personalizing advertisements, and enhancing digital marketing efforts. It examines various big data use cases, including how eBay utilizes data to understand customer preferences, improve search engine functionality, and target the right consumers. The report critically analyzes big data technologies, such as Qubole Data Services and the Hadoop framework, detailing their strengths and limitations within eBay's architecture. Furthermore, it explores the challenges and opportunities associated with big data implementation, outlining the architecture solution, technology stack, and future prospects of big data in eBay's operations. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of big data in driving strategic business decisions and improving overall customer experience.

Use of Big data in eBay
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Big Data Use Cases.........................................................................................................................3
Optimizing customer relationships..............................................................................................4
Personalized advertisements........................................................................................................5
Critical Analysis of Big Data Technologies....................................................................................6
Familiarity with consumers..........................................................................................................6
Search engine...............................................................................................................................6
Reaching the right consumers......................................................................................................6
Control to consumers...................................................................................................................7
Optimizing digital marketing.......................................................................................................7
Big Data Architecture Solution.......................................................................................................8
Qubole Data Services (QDS).......................................................................................................8
eBay Technology Stack...............................................................................................................8
Big data challenges and opportunities.......................................................................................10
Future use of Big Data in eBay..................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12
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Executive Summary
eBay uses the big data system to make shopping a successful experience for its
customers. The company does so by analyzing different sets of information available from the
big data software’s. eBay uses two data warehouses and the Hadoop software framework for
storing and clustering of information. The system used by eBay enables clustering the search for
different goods, merchandising and handling customer recommendations. The objective for using
such a technology is to understand the customers of the company better. eBay utilizes the big
data system to handle millions of customer and third party queries each day and to perform back
end operations. The company uses Linux databases for storing and processing such huge data.
eBay uses the big data system to facilitate analyzing its target customers and their preferences.
Accordingly the company develops effective marketing and advertising tactics. My Big data
strategy is “Using big data for marketing campaign to increase eBay plus customers.”
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Introduction
Big data refers to large and complex data sets which cannot be processed by using
conventional database management tools. When there is a huge set of data it becomes difficult
for the traditional database system to capture and curate them. Big data software tools help in
managing and processing such information within a considerable amount of time at a very high
speed. Volume, variety and velocity are the three main challenges that big data software’s help in
overcoming. In order to handle such huge unstructured sets of information, inductive statistic
techniques and nonlinear system identification tools are used by big data. Big data serves as an
important tool for government authorities, science and research institutes and the private sector
firms for analyzing huge sets of data for meeting consumer need and to take strategic business
decisions (Allam & Dhunny, 2019).
The digital advertising and marketing industry has evolved highly in the past decade. It is
capable of capturing unstructured data of huge volume and processes it in a manner such that
valuable insights can be developed. The digital industry is capable of establishing spot trends and
patterns which help in discovering new relationships and provide competitive advantages to
different firms. This has created a shift in the manner in which organizations advertise and
market their products or services. Big data technology enables organizations to effectively
capture large volumes of data and use the same for handling bulk transactions and conducting
research for developing greater market opportunities. Companies such as eBay use the big data
software systems for managing customer queries, merchandizing and to handle various types of
back end operations (Santos, Martinho, & Costa, 2017).
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Big Data Use Cases
Technological advancements in the current time has led to a buildup of big chunks of
data and information. This information explosion has led to the crisis of safe storage and privacy
issues because manipulating it for wrong purposes can cause damage to the society. Data
expansion has led to exploitation both in positive and negative ways. Big corporations have
exploited some of it while the massive bit of it remains unused, which calls out for the need of
more experts in the field to analyze it. It is necessary to take out the value that the data possesses
and use it in the positive manner for it being beneficial of mankind. With big data, the problem
of storage arises because of the fact that cloud storage has been seen vulnerable now to many
security issues (Tabesh, Mousavidin, & Hasani, 2019).
With the data increasing day by day, it can be seen that people in the Information
technology field are decreasing which causes an alarming situation to recruit talented people in
the field. Information can be used for various positive purposes and scientific advancements can
lead to the growth for a far better future. Where there are positive impacts and the world is
moving towards a more digitalized form, there are drawbacks to the same thing which might lead
to damage of both research and the society providing it falls into the wrong hands and is
manipulated for the wrong purposes. The processing power and the storage capabilities of the
technology for big data should be met with to improve understanding of nature (Chamikara,
Bertok, Liu, Camtepe, & Khalil, 2019)
Optimizing customer relationships
eBay collects data about its customers and sells the same to third party companies. This
acts as a marketing solution for various firms who develop their product features based upon the
information about the target customers. eBay uses big data platform to obtain information about
the consumers who search for different products on their website. The data is then collected and
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summarized on the basis of the type of products consumers search the most, the products of
specific companies which are in high demand and product features which consumers are seen to
search for. Such information helps firms to detect the tastes of its target consumers and
accordingly develop their marketing strategies and plans (Gerrard, Mooney, Thompson, &
Thompson, 2018).
eBay uses the big data system to manage the huge amount of information relating to its
consumers from across the world. The information is used by the company for analytics
purposes. The company segregates the information based on product categories and analyzes
them. The objective of the company is to track the journey of its customers. The information
collected is then summarized and analyzed to understand consumer needs. The company takes
important strategic decisions on the basis of such information such as whether free shipping
impact sales or should the company maintain low auction prices (Torrecilla & Romo, 2018).
Personalized advertisements
The big data system allows organizations such as eBay to develop personalized
advertisements. Firms are seen to develop advertisements which consumers are most likely to
watch. The challenge is to combine creativity with technology to attract consumers. Such
advertisements are developed on the basis of the massive amounts of information obtained with
the help of the big data systems. eBay utilizes the concept that personalized advertisement help
influencing the target market better. The company after strategically analyzing the information
obtained utilizes different media channels to advertise their services. eBay company relies upon
its products and gives greater priority on advertising them. The company processes the
information collected from the big data systems and accordingly analyses which products are
more in demand or searched by specific consumers. Accordingly product advertisements are
projected to individual consumers when they are identified to access the web. Also, eBay relies
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upon the word of mouth technique to popularize its services (Khezrimotlagh, Zhu, Cook, &
Toloo, 2019).
Critical Analysis of Big Data Technologies
Familiarity with consumers
One of the major advantages that big data offers e-commerce based companies such as
eBay is a chance to know their consumers. Big data sores information such as what specific
consumers search and buy on the web and their locations. This facilitates firms to understand the
characteristics of their target market segment and develop familiarity with them. When firms
have adequate information about consumers, it is easier to market different types of products to
them. eBay is seen to utilize this concept for optimizing their selling prices. Although it is not
possible for organizations to compel individuals to buy the products they come across online, but
with the help of big data, it is possible for them to improve their chances of sale as there is better
information regarding the prospective consumers who would buy their products (Singh & Garg,
2015).
Search engine
Online consumers rely much upon the search engine to look for their desired products.
When the names of products are entered in the wrong way, many sites are seen to be unable to
produce results. eBay however updates its product searches when consumers make queries
regarding products by entering the same in different ways. This improves the chances of showing
results thereby raising the sales opportunities for the company. However it is not a simple task to
update the manner in which particular goods are searched for in the web due to data abundance.
Therefore companies like eBay rely upon big data technology for improving their search results.
This increases their competitive advantages in the market (Merendino et al., 2018)
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Reaching the right consumers
In the digitalized global business environment it is seen to be extremely difficult for
companies to decide which consumers should be targeted and how they must be approached.
Multinational companies have their consumers spread across the globe making them diversified
in terms of tastes, preferences and purchasing behavior. Big data offers firms with suitable
information regarding the market patterns existing in different regions. Information regarding the
types of products most popularly searched and purchased by consumers in different parts of the
world is provided to the company. This helps them to strategically form their marketing plans
and meet consumer need more efficiently. When organizations know what consumers need and
are effectively able to deliver the same, then the chances of developing loyal customers of the
brand increases (Khan et al., 2014).
Control to consumers
Smart retailers are keen on gathering data that reduces their marketing efforts and
concurrently also helps in increasing their sales revenue. eBay realizes the fact that not all people
across the world indulge in online purchase and sales. Hence using social media channels such as
television and newspaper for marketing different products will not be a suitable investment as it
targets to attract the entire market. Also not all type of online shoppers shop for everything
online. They are seen to buy certain classes of products. The objective of big data is to
summarize information regarding the products which people purchase online, the items they
search for, the aspect or features which attract them. The system also gathers information
regarding the personal details of potential consumers like the frequency of their purchase, the
price range they prefer, the amount they spend on an average, their location and so on. This
information is then analyzed using different software’s such as Hadoop to derive meaningful
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data. Based on such information, firms such as eBay advertise their products to specific
consumers (Oussous, Benjelloun, Lahcen, & Belfkih, 2018).
Optimizing digital marketing
The digital marketing platform is different from the others. Online retailers rely much
upon consumer information for advertising their products. Other retailing firms are seen to
promote their products to the entire market and therefore consumer specific information is not
required by them. Online retailers such as eBay develop their marketing strategies based upon
the information provided to them through bid data software’s and applications. Big data helps
such firms to develop comprehensive details regarding the target consumers and accordingly
develop their marketing and sales tactics. It is possible for them to easily analyze different
variable and dependent factors that influence sales. Researchers have stated that since digital
marketing and advertising technique is based upon actual facts and focuses upon reaching
potential consumers directly, the affectivity of such marketing is high (Sarnovsky, Bednar, &
Smatana, 2018).
Big Data Architecture Solution
Qubole Data Services (QDS)
QDS provides Hadoop engine facilities which help digital advertisers to extract meaning
out of a bulk of unstructured data. This gives competitive advantages to companies like eBay to
gain greater product knowledge and competitive advantages. The advanced technological
features provided by the QDS assists the big data system with its information processing
requirements such as auto-scaling. The system helps to obtain information in a flexible and fast
manner thereby reducing the turnaround time required for business users (Amankwah &
Adomako, 2019).
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eBay Technology Stack
eBay have been using big data to gain advancements and lead the industry as compared
to the other competitions in the industry. The aim to be the best at what they do, big data in
industries is to be analyzed so that the big organizations can have an edge over all the other
competitors in the same market place.
(Source: Khan et al., 2014)
Competition is what leads to growth and betterment. Striving for the best and maintaining
the position is what keeps the companies moving forwards and progress in what they do.
Analyzing big chunks of data not only gives out an upper hand as compared to the others but it
also helps in making up strategies that are developed for the future working process and
functioning of the organizational body. Having said that, the management system and lean
management leads to the function of a more effective organizational body (Gandomi & Haider,
2015). It has become mandatory to develop future strategies on analytics and statistics of the
company rather than by intuition. Decision making is also done in the same way where facts and
figures are more valued. This does help in effective decision making since intuition can prove to
fail, while many organizations that use statistics to back up their actions are more advanced than
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the competitors in the market. The big floods of data in corporations have made evaluating and
analyzing easy which has led to the advancements and has given an upper hand in various
business strategies. Using analytical way of decision making minimizes risk which leads to more
profit generation.
Big data challenges and opportunities
The market of big data is advancing and progressing as faster than ever which has led to
both challenges to counter unstructured and structured one while giving numerous opportunities
to make advancements like never before. It has given the opportunity to advance at corporate
levels where information technology is used as a viable tool to progress and make amends in the
present strategies. Data mining is a big question when it comes to it because seeking the right
type of information and manipulating it accordingly is necessary (Santos et al., 2017). Agreeing
with the point that mixing new data with old data and then utilizing it for analytical purposes will
lead to a far better progress at institutional level but this can also have a negative impact if
misused or not properly used to gain results that are incorrect. Incorrect results lead to wrong
decision making which then has an impact on the organization overall and its reputation can
deteriorate heavily.
The harnessing of big data is a major challenge since, not many organizations know what
to do with big sets of information and how to decrypt it accordingly. Where it is necessary to get
proper information technology professionals to decode the algorithms it is also necessary to
double check it for errors because a single mistake can lead to crucial circumstances. Thus, the
appropriate implementation of big data can open vast gates of opportunity for the organizations
to progress and if used in a manner that is wrong or misinterpreted, it can have devastating
effects which may lead to other crucial acts (Tabesh et al., 2019).
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Future use of Big Data in eBay
The concerns about data quality and the predictions made are seen as skeptical figures in
the marketplace and among well reputed old companies who rely on intuition for most of the
work. This lack of confidence in turn does effect the company and the skeptical approach ends
up not doing well for the company. Though, many say that analytical approach will produce
good results in the coming years and will be a vital part of decision making and management
performances, but it is also seen that the proper tools for the decryption of data is still lacking
and have not generated any feasible results it was supposed to do so (Chamikara et al., 2019).
Since, there is no centralized approach to study the structure and unstructured data, it is hard for
organizations to comprehend or establish the rules for the use. It also can be owned to the fact
that many CEO’s overlook the statistical analysis and look at data from an intuition of old
business. By developing proper mining techniques and decryption process the data can be fairly
used in implementing strategies that can prove beneficial. For that to be accomplished, there is a
need for more talented individuals in the genre of information technology (Gerrard et al., 2018).
Conclusion
The market forecasts and analytical results provided by big data plays a critical role in
strategic marketing for companies such as eBay. One of the primary advantages big data
provides to the consumers is that, they can access a huge amount of data incurring less expense.
Since the information processing time is also quick, firms can take fast actions to market their
products. One of the critical challenges faced by companies who use the big data system is to
provide security to the users. The cloud based system of big data facilitates large scale analytics.
Research and development based upon the information obtained from big data enable companies
to update existing and launch new products on a regular basis. This increases the product range
for companies like eBay, therefore being able to have a wide spread market and high revenues.
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