Web Analytics tools to measure data

Web analytics is a basic building block of e-commerce that is undergoing a significant transformation. Web retailers still use internally developed and vendor-supplied programs to measure such important metrics as site traffic, conversion rates and average tickets. But retailers are using web analytics to understand a broader universe of data. There’s a lot more real-time data to measure today, and analytics is the tool that will help retailers measure their performance in new channels such as mobile and social commerce.
Historically, web managers have used analytics to measure customer behavior on their primary e-commerce sites. But with new and improved analytics tools, retailers now measure interactions with shoppers across such channels as e-mail, display advertising, search marketing, mobile commerce and social media.
Analytics will be used going forward to measure more data on a real-time basis and that will give web merchants insight into immediate customer behavior and how that behavior has changed over time. Shoppers now interact with retailers through new channels, such as mobile commerce and social media, and will generate new types of behavior web merchants will need to track.
In the past two years, consolidation has spurred more investment by analytics firms, especially for social media tools. There has been resurgence in research and development on web analytics among the various software developers in the past year, and consolidation among vendors has played a role. The new software releases are easier to use, let users measure and monitor multiple channels in more finite detail and look much more closely at individual buying behavior across a broader spectrum.
Retailers can benefit by making these increasingly sophisticated social analytics tools available to more employees. The more individuals within a retail organization that understand and use analytics, the retailer will have a better understanding of what’s driving customer behavior and their purchasing patterns.
The goal of better analytics reporting and understanding remains a top priority for some retailers, especially in using analytics to measure e-commerce and social commerce metrics on a tight deadline. Retailers also need to avoid information overload.
To streamline web analytics program, collect and measure data based on the top priority of each e-commerce department. Best Buy now uses analytics to measure transaction and traffic data more precisely, view data on a priority basis and extract the best data to act on. Incorporating top user requirements and effectively measuring what’s happening across new channels, such as mobile commerce and social media.