¶ … customer shopping, assertions and otherwise is nothing new. However, the manifestations and degree to which this data is used in the modern marketing sphere is much more substantial and significant than it used to be. Just one example of a firm that does this is Amazon. This report shall explain what data that company uses, the additional data that they might attain from other vendors, the specific insights or information that is extracted from the raw data, how the analysis of the data translates into decisions and so forth. While Amazon has to be careful when it comes to the depth and breadth of how they use the data they get a hold of, there is no question that the use of that data is the core of their creation and sustaining of their business. Analysis

In the grand scheme of things, Amazon has not been around all that long. Similarly, the use of "big data" and information systems as a significant tool (if not the main one) to market products and analyze data is also fairly new. It is fitting, thus, that Amazon has jumped to the stratospheric heights that it has reached in large part because of how they collect, harness and use the data that they collect from their customer. The data that they acquire and track would include what products sell well, which ones do not, on-time performance in terms of shipping, what product purchases correlated with each other, what consumers look at, what they actually buy, whether they...

Basically, Amazon is collecting and amassing a huge amount of data on what happens with individual products and what is happening with individual buyers and they make an effort, usually successfully, to mesh and meld the two when it comes to selling products and keeping their sales figures high (Madden, 2012).
As for what data might come from outside vendors, there are many sources and places that Amazon could look. However, they need to be efficient and careful as spending too much time looking at the wrong things can lead to wasted motion and loss of opportunity. While what is happening in their own midst is important, Amazon needs to be mindful of what other firms are selling, how they are selling it, for what price they are selling it and so forth. For example, Amazon would be very mindful and attentive to what their competitors do. Just a few of these would include Walmart, Target, Wayfair and Fingerhut, just to name some of them. As one might notice, Amazon is competing with brick and mortar firms like Best Buy and Walmart but they are also competing with online vendors like Zappos, Wayfair and others. Beyond that, the ground-based stores like Walmart also have online portals and shopping venues, if not extensive ones, and thus Amazon is competing with businesses that operate on two major fronts rather than the online-only nature that typifies most of Amazon's business. However, Amazon is starting to delve into the ground-based sphere in several forms and they would be wise to keep…