C11BD Coursework
Submitted By
Oluwayomi Fadekemi Ojo
Student ID:H00447358
Date: March 18, 2024
Report title: Profitability Analysis and Insights for Superstore Business Growth
Executive Summary
The analysis of Superstore's dataset reveals insightful trends in profitability, customer segmentation, and regional performance and some patterns in its clusters. The business demonstrates growth and resilience, with certain segments and regions outperforming others. While product categories and customer segments varied in profitability, opportunities for improvement exist across the board. Recommendations include segment-specific strategies, proper segmentation, prioritizing customer satisfaction and clear data quality standards and continuous monitoring of profitability metrics. Regional strategies should focus on capitalizing on growth opportunities and addressing region-specific challenges.
Introduction
In this era of data proliferation and rapidly evolving environment, where businesses and industries are inundated with enormous amounts of information (Strydom & Buckley, 2020), data analytics has become an important tool for companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage and drive sustainable growth (Kaufmann, 2021). By harnessing and understanding this data, organisations can unlock valuable insights that guide strategic decision making and propel them towards achieving their strategic goals (Gyamfi & Williams, 2019). The profound potential of data analytics lies in its ability to sift through immense volumes of information to reveal hidden patterns (R. Sujatha et al., 2021), show correlations, and trends that may be hidden from traditional analysis. By leveraging advanced analytics techniques such as machine learning, predictive modelling, and data mining, organizations can distil complex datasets into actionable intelligence, guiding strategic initiatives and driving bottom-line results (Baesens, 2014).
Methodology
Considering the above, this report takes an in-depth approach to analyse Superstore’s dataset with the aim to uncovering hidden patterns, trends, and opportunities within the dataset that can drive profitability and foster business success. From identifying data entry errors and This report will take a systematic approach encompassing data collection, Data Cleaning and Preprocessing that involves a rigorous cleaning and preprocessing to remove inconsistencies, missing values, or outliers that may skew the analysis of our result. Exploratory data analysis is performed to gain insights into the distribution and relationships among different variables in the dataset. The data is segmented based on product categories, regions, and customer segments to analyse profitability trends within each segment. Comparisons are made across segments to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. Continuous Monitoring and Optimization of profitability metrics will be done and tracked to identify emerging trends and areas needing corrective action and Insights from the analysis are used to optimize business strategies, pricing decisions, product offerings, and resource allocation.
Objective
The primary objective of this report is to conduct profitability analysis. This entails examining the profitability trends across different product categories, regions, and customer segments. By analysing sales revenue, profit margins, and associated costs, the report aims to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement within the retail operations of the Superstore.
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Analysis
This statistical description summarises the information for Superstore. This shows that the company's profit is highly competitive despite the seemingly huge amount of losses generated from some sales. Statistical investigation shows that Superstore generated an approximate profit mean of 28.66 on sales mean of 229.88, generating a profit margin of 12.46% over the years. that is:
Profit Margin = (Profit/Sales) X 100 Therefore: (28.66/229.86) X 100 = 12.46%
This margin of 12.47% means that for every dollar of sales revenue generated, Superstore retains approximately $0.1247 as profit. This suggests that the profit margin is not below par given that the retail grocery business has weak profit margins typically between an average of one and two percent (Dorich, 2021). The description below also shows an average of 15.6% for every sale made. Given the huge difference between the minimum and the maximum value in the variables shown in the data below, it is imperative that we identify and take out outliers to avoid any bias estimates.
Outliers
The analysis identifies outliers in the dataset across different metrics. Firstly, outliers in the Discount variable are observed, with two extreme values exceeding 100% discount, attributed to rare sales occurrences in the corporate segment during specific years. Similarly, in Profit, three exceptionally high profits and one significant loss are considered outliers, impacting the calculated mean. Additionally, Quantity outliers, represented by values exceeding 14, are removed, notably impacting the mean quantity. Lastly, Sales outliers, identified as values surpassing 12,000, are linked to infrequent purchases by different customer segments across specific years, leading to a reduction in the mean sales value. Overall, addressing these outliers ensures a more accurate representation of central tendency and enhances the reliability of statistical analysis.
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Visualisation of Quantity purchased vs Sales, Profit and Discount
The table below shows relationship between the quantity of items purchased and their corresponding sales, profit, and discount values. There seem to be a common pattern among most of the data points regarding the relationship between quantity, sales, profit and discount. This implies that for most transactions, changes in quantity are associated with relatively consistent changes in sales, profit, and discount.
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Product Analysis: Profitability by Product categories
The table and visualisation below help to understand the profit trends across Superstore's different product categories over time. Furniture has consistently performed lower in terms of profitability compared to the other categories. It only experiences some spikes around the same period every year which might be due factors such as seasonality. Office supplies and technology seem to be performing at par. While Office supplies experience a sharp growth in November 2016, it also had a sudden fall in January 2017 when all the product categories fell. This fall in all categories might be a result of intense competitive pressure.
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Segment Analysis: Profitability by Segment in relation to discount
To understand the profitability of this segments, an analysis of the discount received by each segment is also done to enable us to understand the relationship between discount and profitability. The profit percentage for the Consumer segment has decreased from 54% in 2014 to 41% in 2017 even when the discount given to customers increased tremendously. Despite this increase in discounts over the years, the profit percentage has declined for the Consumer segment. This suggests that the increased discounts may not have translated into higher sales or revenue growth. Other factors such as changes in consumer preferences, competition, or operational inefficiencies could have contributed to the decline in profitability.
For Home Office Segment, the profit percentage for the Home Office segment increased from 18% in 2014 to 24.9% in 2017 when discount also increased. The Home Office segment experienced an improvement in profitability despite increased discount allowed. This could indicate that the segment has effectively managed its costs or targeting higher-margin products and customers.
Corporate segments experience a 25% growth between 2014 and 2017 despite the constant increment in discount given to its customers. Like the Home Office segment. This could be due to strategic pricing or focusing on high-value customers within the segment.
The loss situation is degenerating YoY between Corporate and Home office while consumer segment seems to be making effort in taming its loss. Still Consumer segment still has the highest amount of loss of these three segments.
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Region Analysis: Profit by Region
The profitability of the Central region shows steady growth from 2014 to 2017. Profit increases from approximately $15,657 in 2014 to around $28,060 in 2017, indicating consistent growth over the period. This region demonstrates a positive trend in profitability. Like the central region, the east shows upward profitability trends with a steady rise from about $25,458 in 2014 to $40,087 in 2017. The profitability of the South region fluctuates over the years, with some variability in performance. Profit peaks in 2016 at approximately $20,766 but declines slightly in 2017 to around $21,214. While the South region experiences fluctuations, overall profitability remains relatively stable, suggesting a balanced performance. The West region demonstrates the most significant growth in profitability among all regions. Profit nearly doubles from approximately $23,346 in 2014 to over $46,155 in 2017. This region shows the highest profitability and the most robust growth trajectory, making it a key driver of overall profitability for the organization.
Despite the YoY profit growth experienced across the regions, they all had their losses increased in 2017. This suggests systemic challenges or external factors affecting the retail sector rather than region-specific issues.
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Customer Analysis: Profit by customers vis -a-vis the quantity purchased.
For Superstore to make informed decisions to enhance profitability and customer satisfaction, it is imperative that the behaviour and financial performance of the customers are understood. The result below shows the top twenty customers that make the most profit. It is observed that the top twenty customers, despite purchasing lesser quantities, are highly profitable for the company. Despite their lower purchase volumes, they contribute significantly to the company's overall profitability. They are all well distributed across all four segments, which indicates that profitability is not limited to a specific customer segment.
A quick comparison of the top twenty customers and the entire customer base of superstore reveals that the top twenty customers have a significantly higher mean profit ($2960.60) compared to the overall dataset ($26.84). There is no difference in the mean sales ($223.40) and discount (0.156) between the top twenty customers and the overall dataset. The top twenty customers purchase a higher mean quantity (64.95) compared to the overall dataset (3.79). This indicates that the top twenty customers contribute substantially more to the overall profit of the Superstore, purchase larger quantities of products, but receive similar discounts and make similar sales compared to the rest of the customers in the dataset.
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Modelling with Kmeans Clustering
The first point on the Kmeans has a high inertia indicating that the data points in the cluster are distributed. over a larger area, and the cluster center is relatively distant from the data points. This means that they are not tightly grouped around the central point. 5 clusters have been chosen because that indicates a point K where the sum of squared errors begin to decline. From the visualisation below, it can be said that the data points within each cluster are closely packed together in the feature space. There is a little spread of variability among the data points which suggests that Superstores Sales, Discount, Profit and Quantity all share similar characteristics. The mean value of these clusters indivate the relative sizes. Clusters with higher mean value have more datapoints allocated to them while those with lower mean values have fewer data points. In this case, Kmeans_5 followed by KMeans_3 appear to be the largest.
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Conclusion
The analysis of Superstore dataset has yielded useful information into the company's profitability trends, customer segmentation, and regional performance. Despite facing challenges such as fluctuating profitability and increasing losses in certain segments and regions, the company demonstrated overall growth and resilience over the years. While the profitability analysis revealed certain product categories and customer segments performed better than others, there are opportunities for improvement across the board. The correlation between discounts and profitability varied across segments, indicating the need for targeted pricing strategies and cost management initiatives. Regional performance analysis highlighted the West region as a significant driver of profitability, experiencing substantial growth over the years. However, all regions faced increased losses in 2017, suggesting systemic challenges impacting the retail sector.
Recommendation
Given the insights derived from this dataset, it is imperative to develop tailored strategies that will optimise the operations of Superstore. • Develop segment-specific strategies to address the variation in profitability trends observed across different product categories and customer segments. This will entail optimising product offerings and tailoring customer experience to each segment. • Implement cost management initiatives to mitigate the impact of discounts on profitability. This may include evaluating the effectiveness of discounting strategies, optimizing supply chain processes, and minimizing operational inefficiencies. • Prioritize customer satisfaction and retention efforts to cultivate long-term relationships with high-value customers. Leverage data analytics to personalize marketing efforts, tailor product recommendations, and enhance overall customer experience across all touchpoints. • Define clear data quality standards and guidelines for data collection, entry, storage, and maintenance. • Continuous monitoring and optimization of profitability metrics to identify emerging trends, address performance gaps, and seize opportunities proactively. • Focus on regional strategies to capitalize on growth opportunities and address challenges specific to each region. • Invest in market research to understand regional dynamics, consumer preferences, and competitive landscape to inform strategic decision-making.
References
Özemre, M. and Kabadurmus, O., 2020. A big data analytics based methodology for strategic decision making. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 33(6), pp.1467-1490.
Kanungo, T., Mount, D.M., Netanyahu, N.S., Piatko, C.D., Silverman, R. and Wu, A.Y., 2002. An efficient k-means clustering algorithm: Analysis and implementation. IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, 24(7), pp.881-892.
Aladžuz, A., Delalić, A. and Šćeta, L., 2022, May. Cluster Analysis in Python: An Example of Market Segmentation. In International Conference “New Technologies, Development and Applications” (pp. 1032-1041). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Raschka, S. and Mirjalili, V., 2019. Python machine learning: Machine learning and deep learning with Python, scikit-learn, and TensorFlow 2. Packt publishing ltd.
Rogel-Salazar, J., 2023. Statistics and Data Visualisation with Python. Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Aladžuz, A., Delalić, A., & Šćeta, L. (2022, May). Cluster Analysis in Python: An Example of Market Segmentation. In International Conference “New Technologies, Development and Applications” (pp. 1032-1041). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Baesens, B. (2014). Analytics in a big data world: The essential guide to data science and its applications. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Gyamfi, A., & Williams, I. (2019). Big Data and Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Organizations. IGI Global.
Kanungo, T., Mount, D. M., Netanyahu, N. S., Piatko, C. D., Silverman, R., & Wu, A. Y. (2002). An efficient k-means clustering algorithm: Analysis and implementation. IEEE transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, 24(7), 881-892.
Kaufmann, A. B. (2021). DATA ANALYTICS FOR ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Unleashing the potential of your data. S.L.: John Wiley & Sons.
Özemre, M., & Kabadurmus, O. (2020). A big data analytics based methodology for strategic decision making. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 33(6), 1467-1490.
Raschka, S., & Mirjalili, V. (2019). Python machine learning: Machine learning and deep learning with Python, scikit-learn, and TensorFlow 2. Packt publishing ltd.
Rogel-Salazar, J. (2023). Statistics and Data Visualisation with Python. Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Strydom, M., & Buckley, S. (2020). AI and big data’s potential for disruptive innovation. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global.
Sujatha, R., Aarthy, S. L., & Vettriselvan, R. (2021). Integrating Deep Learning Algorithms to Overcome Challenges in Big Data Analytics. CRC Press.