How do businesses organize all of the data they collect so that they can transform it into useful information? For most businesses this is where data warehousing comes into play. A data warehouse collects data from multiple sources (both internal and external) and stores the data to later be used in an analysis. The primary purpose of a data warehouse is to store the data in a way that it can later be retrieved for use by the business.

Large retailers such as WalMart and Target track sales on a minute-by-minute basis and data mining allows these large retailers to recognize changes in purchasing behavior in an extremely short amount of time. They can quickly make adjustments to inventory levels based on the information gathered from thousands of individual transactions as a result of data mining. Clearly understanding consumer behavior is a primary goal of data mining.

Today businesses are treating the Internet as a massive data warehouse and are using data mining techniques to gather data about not just existing customers, but potential customers. Data mining tools allow businesses to learn more about customers, competitors, compare prices and even find new customers and sales targets. As the quantity of data businesses can collect continues to grow, having an effective data warehousing system that can be easily mined has become increasingly critical to business success.

Social media platforms like TikTok also engage in data mining so that they can generate revenue by providing an opportunity for businesses to do targeted advertising. The data social media platforms also serves to create a more engaging experience so that users will spend more time on the platform, leading to a better audience for advertisers.