Major ecommerce players like Netflix, Wal-Mart and eBay are leveraging affordable, open-source Big Data tools to deliver real-time personalized shopping experiences. And they say the efforts are paying off, with higher customer spending and improved retention rates. (via ‘Big Data’ Can Be Hard to Harness - eMarketer)

Facebook is constantly absorbing our real-life data that we contribute to the social network, but one Brazilian clothing store is taking Facebook’s data and throwing it back into the physical world. (via Brazil retailer using Facebook likes… on its clothing hangers | VentureBeat)

“What is changing—and rapidly—is how likely grocery shoppers are to use a variety of digital tools to research and plan purchases, whether or not those purchases ultimately are made online,” said Krista Garcia, eMarketer analyst and author of the new report, “US Digital Grocery Shopping: Meeting Demand at Home, In-Aisle and On the Go.” “These tools are affecting how brick-and-mortar retailers sell groceries, and how supermarkets and customers interact.”

(via Digital Tools Key for Grocery Shopping, Online and Off - eMarketer)

You’ll never believe how LinkedIn built its new iPad app

We’ve had a lot of fun asking people to guess this over the past couple days. They’ll start with 40 percent and edge up to 70 percent, but no one comes close to the real figure: 95 percent. (via You’ll never believe how LinkedIn built its new iPad app (exclusive) | VentureBeat)