Next month, I'll be delivering the keynote address at the annual conference of the Retailers Association of India, called the Retail Technology Conclave (ReTechCon). Here is the synopsis for my talk on "De-mystifying Predictive Analytics": Business Analytics, Big Data, and Predictive Analytics are the latest buzzwords promising to turn straw into gold for retailers. The media and software vendors have created an excitement about these technologies and the transformations that they can achieve. But what exactly are these technologies? How are they different from BI reporting or from statistical analysis? Without understanding the basics of predictive analytics, it is impossible to identify opportunities, to critically assess possibilities, and to figure out needed resources. Does "Big Data" require data on millions of customers for extracting non-trivial and potentially actionable knowledge? Can highly sophisticated algorithms replace domain knowledge? What is the value of connecting data from different sources in the business? This talk will de-mystify the basics of predictive analytics: the toolkit, data requirements, performance evaluation, the types of questions it can potentially answer, as well as the "fine print" of hidden assumptions. We will discuss opportunities of leveraging predictive analytics in the Indian retail market, including emerging online and mobile commerce.