Business Analytics and Statistics - Research Report

This assignment is based on fictional data - do not contact the company below.

You are creating a business report for the CEO of an online retail company called, Retail Surge. It must be professional in presentation and contain insightful content for them to make business decisions.

Both data sets are fromalarge global corporation. The businessis divided into a number of area sincluding Men's, Women's, Boys, Girls, and Customisation. The product range includes shoes, clothing, accessories and sporting equipment. The customisation section allows customers to customise depending on use, such as lifestyle, running, gym & training, football, basketball and skateboarding. There are also options to customise the children's line.

You have been given two data sets and the data is inclusive ofawholeyearof trading.

1. The first dataset labelled "Customer attributes" lists the results of an online survey given to customers.
a. The variables include:
i. "User_Group" which shows how often individuals used the website, where "light user" is defined as less than once a fortnight/month, "Medium user" is once a fortnight, "Heavy user" is more than once a week.
ii. "Gender" - male or female
iii. The dataset also lists the customer attitudes which is six variables consisting of:"Knowledge", "Satisfaction", "Preference", "Purchase intentions","Loyalty"and "Recommend"
These items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale. See values column for exact wording.
2. The second dataset lists the website sales.
a. The variables include:
b. Month of purchase
c. Whether the total purchases were paid with Paypal or Credit card
d. The product category, Costs of Goods (COGS margins), and profit total.

The main challenges in the businessare profit, Cost of Goods (COGS margins) and increasing sales. Also knowing who to target with their marketing (which user group).

Task instructions:

Using what you have learned in the lectures and the tutorials answer the main research questions below. Then consider the dataset and answer any other research questions you can identify that are meaningful to the CEO.

As guide - answer these main research questions:
1. Which product categories are making the most profit?
2. Which product category costs the most (COGS)?
3. Is there a difference in payments methods?
4. Are there any differences in the user groups on all of the customer attitudes? (6 outcomes)
5. Are there any differences in gender on all of the customer attitudes? (6 outcomes)

There are other research questions you should consider and report on at least one.
Do not worry if you are using a lot of the same analysis to report on the research questions.

There are right and wrong answers when it comes to statistical analysis. You must know and demonstrate your knowledge of this.Hint:Do not confuse t-tests with ANOVA.

Report structure:

• Cover page/Title Page - Name, student number, tutor information, word count
• Table of contents(could also include a list of figures / graphs / tables)
• Introduction (2 marks) - Introduce the business and its problems.
o Describe the company, what does it do, what is the company profile. Paraphrase this information and add to it as it is an imaginary company.
• Problem definition and business intelligence required (3 marks):
o List each of the research questions and list what analytics methods you have chosen to answer each question and why. Use references to academic definitions of the statistics, such as textbooks and journal articles.
- For example, if you used an ANOVA -list the research question, explain why an ANOVA was most appropriate by defining what an ANOVA is and does (use references to statistical textbooks and websites).
• Results of the selected analytics methods and technical analysis (25 marks):
o Use each research question as a heading
o Presentthe relevant descriptive statistics through data visualization/ graphical displays (Tables, graphs, pie charts etc.).
o Present the main analysis results and explain them.
o Higher marks for including extra research questions not defined in this document and creating nice tables/displays opposed to copy and pasting directly from SPSS output.
• Discussion of the results and recommendations (5 marks):
o Based on the analyses what conclusions about the business can be summarized/drawn and what recommendations can be offered to the CEO.
• References - list of references in either Harvard or APA formatting
• Appendix - Include copies of the output from SPSS exactly as it is

Report formatting:
Font size 12 Times New roman, double spacing, word count 1,500-2,000. Note. The word count does not include headings, tables, graphs/figures or the reference list.