How Do We Make Good Use Of Big Data in Commerce?

Many businesses offer membership cards to clients， promising that they will enjoy discounts， and the more they use the cards， the bigger the discounts will be. This is a common practice to attract and retain regular customers. By providing quality products or services at reasonable prices， businesses can indeed achieve this goal.

However， in recent years， consumers trying to book flights or hotels on certain websites have discovered that prices were actually higher for frequent users than for newcomers. They found that they could pay less by opening up a new account rather than using an old one. Unfortunately， these businesses are using information gathered through big data on clientspreferences and purchasing habits to take advantage of them， which amounts to targeted price discrimination.

There have been numerous cases of overcharging based on big data on various shopping platforms in recent years. However， since its diffi cult to collect suffi cient evidence to accuse these businesses， only a small number of consumers have chosen to take them on. Thus， big data， which is supposed to benefi t the public， is helping some businesses cheat consumers.

Big data itself is not a bad thing， especially since it is playing an increasingly important role in social life and economic growth. It can serve as a basic resource and tool. But since it is being used to overcharge frequent clients， the public has expressed anger. Its a myopic behavior that will eventually drive away customers. Instead， big data should be used to improve businesses services and products by strengthening supervision and punishment so that this new technology can play its due role in Internet commerce.

Digging out purchase habits

Yang Zhaokui （Workers Daily）： In recent years， there have been frequent cases of businesses taking advantage of regular clients using big data. For the most part， businesses deny the accusation. They usually claim that they offer discounts or favorable prices to newcomers.

Its not easy for regular clients to find out whether they are paying more for a commodity than newcomers and even more diffi cult to collect evidence. There must be explicit laws and regulations to judge whether regular clients have been overcharged.

This shameless act is a commercial trick based on personal information acquired through big data. Scratch the surface and youll fi nd that some businesses are abusing clientspersonal information， breaching their right to fair trade.

To curb the abuse of big data， we cant expect consumers to win the battle by themselves. The intervention of relevant authorities is necessary. A transparent， fair and honest market environment is important in the Internet era to prevent consumers from being consumed by big data.

Hu Hongsen （Beijing Daily）： Its all right for businesses to employ certain methods to make big money， but to charge regular clients more than newcomers by taking advantage of information collected through big data analysis is encroaching on regular clients rights as well as their trust in these businesses. The Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests stipulates that cons umers have the right to know the truth about the commodities and services they buy. Thus， to overcharge regular clients is not only breaching the principle of fairness and sincerity， but also relevant laws. In the long run， its the businesses that will suffer most.

Rather than taking advantage of big data to gouge prices， it would be wiser for businesses to spend more time improving products and services in order to retain regular clients and attract new customers.

To curb this kind of offense， it is necessary to expose these businesses to the public as a punishment and deterrence. At the same time， more efforts are needed to protect consumers individual information on their purchasing preferences and habits and prevent businesses from abusing clients personal information.

Meanwhile， consumers can compare similar commodities sold by different shops and choose the best and most affordable ones. They should also develop the sense of protecting their personal information. Once they discover that their information is being used for unscrupulous purposes， they need to use the law to safeguard their legitimate rights.