Using big data to know Australian shoppers

In an illustration of the use of big data, AdNear, a big data company that leverages geo-location to drive advertisement targeting across mobile devices, has shared insights about Australian shoppers garnered from its latest research.

According to AdNear, Australian shoppers prefer visiting grocery stores and general retail outlets on Thursday evenings. While grocery shopping seemed to be the great equaliser, with nearly the same number of men as women frequenting supermarkets, ladies were more likely to hit the retail stores.

AdNear’s research was conducted between February and April this year among 300,000 mobile users in five cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. The study tracked shopping habits of homemakers, professionals, the affluent and students based on their location data to form behaviour insights.

Homemakers shop the most – they were the largest audience segment in general retail outlets. The only exception was in Sydney with professionals coming out on top. There were also more homemakers, followed by professionals, who shopped for groceries.

Grocery shopper numbers were generally steady across each week of the month, with a slight dip in the last week, likely attributed to dwindling household budgets. General retail shopper numbers in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth were consistent throughout the month, but Adelaide and Brisbane witnessed dips in the last two weeks of the month.

Although Thursday was most popular for shopping, many general retail shoppers in Melbourne and Sydney were also at stores on Sunday. Weekends, however, were less popular than weekdays for grocery shoppers across all five cities.

“Location-based data can help grocers and retailers identify the most popular day of the week, the best time of day and the right target audience for effective consumer outreach to yield enhanced results,” said Anil Mathews, founder and CEO of AdNear. “Brands can leverage these insights to plan marketing campaigns and unique offers that appeal to specific crowds according to their location.”

AdNear reaches out to 245 million profiled users in Southeast Asia, Australia and India through mobile advertising. The company claims it has the largest database of location-based audiences in Asia-Pacific.