Big data has opened the doors to predictive shopping and anticipatory shipping for Amazon that will see the company shipping customers’ packages before they even order them.

Following the growing trend of using user data to lead shopping actions, the e-commerce giant was quick to take advantage of this new technology and in doing so has filed a patent last December that uses big data to predict what customers will buy.

Amazon’s ambitious plan to send a customers packages before they have decided to buy them is likely to be met with doubt by the retail industry, but the online retailer sees it as an opportunity to further cut down the time between receiving an order and delivering it to a customer’s house.

So why is Amazon so confident about this revolutionary move that has so far only been seen in the use of auto-completion of search terms by Google, and exactly how is it planning to do this?

A sea of user data is being analysed such as wish-lists, shopping cart contents, previous orders as well as how long a mouse cursor pauses over an item. Flagged items recognised as potential purchases will begin the shipping process and go as near as possible to the consumers front door or typical purchase destination. The exact location will be provided later in transit, when the item has actually been bought.

Doubts about the retailing method include shipping a customer something that they decide not to order, which may be why the original patent spotter The Wall Street Journal, did not follow through. However, apparently Amazon plans to handle such occurrences by potentially giving customers discounts on the items, or even giving it to them for free. “Delivering the package to the given customer as a promotional gift may be used to build goodwill,” the patent reads.