--- title: "How Alibaba Used Big Data To Dream up a Peppercorn Snickers Bar" description: "Chinese retailer Alibaba used big data to help Mars Inc. invent a spicy Snickers bar. This could be the future of product design." date: "2018-10-24" modified: "2018-10-24" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/alibaba-big-data-peppercorn-snickers" categories: - "Cybersecurity" - "Data Privacy" - "Future Society" tags: - "Alibaba" - "mars inc." - "product development" - "the digest" --- # How Alibaba Used Big Data To Dream up a Peppercorn Snickers Bar ![Artists rendering of an Alibaba peppercorn Snickers bar produced from big data.]() *\Image: Tag Hartman-Simkins\* ## Material Life The process of developing a new product is [risky and expensive]() for a corporate conglomerate. It's as much art as science, built on relentless customer research, an eye toward an eventual marketing campaign, and a splash of imagination. But now Amazon competitor Alibaba has a plan to disrupt that process using big data. According to a [fascinating new *Bloomberg* story,]() the Chinese company is using its enormous heap of data about its customers to help brands develop new products. If the project works — and there are signs that it is — it could plot a new course for how products enter the market. ## Spicy Candy Alibaba recently provided prominent customer Mars Inc. with a vast repository of data about Chinese consumers. Mars used that data to develop a spicy Snickers bar, seasoned with Sichuan peppercorn. According to *Bloomberg,* Mars typically takes years to fine-tune a new product — but using the Alibaba data, it developed the new Snickers in less than one. Digging through a giant pile of customer data in search of a hidden, surefire niche sounds like it could [stamp creativity out]() of product development. But for the time being, big data is unlikely to lead to the next truly revolutionary idea. "No one told Steve Jobs they need an iPhone," retail and consumer goods expert Pedro Yip told *Bloomberg* of the Alibaba program. "Consumers can only tell you their problems and needs, but you still need creativity." **READ MORE: [Alibaba Used Shoppers' Data to Invent a Spicy Snickers Bar]()** \[*Bloomberg*\] ***More on online retail: [The World’s Largest Retailer Is Partnering with Google in an Effort to Beat Amazon]()*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()