Big data for business management in the retail industry

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how big data deployment transforms organizational practices, thereby generating potential benefits, in a specific industry: retail. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the paper’s goal, the authors have conducted several semi-structured interviews with marketing managers of four retailers in Italy, and researched secondary data to get a broader picture of big data deployment in the organizations. Findings: Data analysis helped identify specific aspects related to big data deployment, data gathering methods, required competences and data sharing approaches. Originality/value: Despite the growing interest in big data in various fields of research, there are still few empirical studies on big data deployment in organizations in the management field, and even fewer on specific sectors. This research provides evidence of specific areas of analysis concerning big data in the retail industry.