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Create a statistical model that predicts future retail store sales to formulate appropriate business strategies.
Predictive analytics is crucial for retail companies as it enables them to optimize sales and inventory management, helping to meet customer demand, minimize excess stock, and maximize profits. In this Build Project, you'll wear the hat of a Business Intelligence Analyst at an imaginary retail company and develop a strategy to manage retail inventory and pricing for different seasons. Under the supervision of an experienced industry expert, you'll develop prediction models based on historical datasets and deliver a strategy plan to improve sales in stores. You'll become familiar with Statistical Analysis and Data Science tools like Python and Jupyter Notebook. All this will happen in an environment that simulates the operations of a real Business Intelligence team, supporting a business with insights about their industry so that they can make data-driven decisions.
Before we start, we need to ensure that we have all the tools we need for analysis. Set up your coding environment, install Jupyter Notebook, and load the project dataset. We'll walk through the dataset, explaining each column and how to access the data using Python.
What can we do with this data to get meaningful analysis? Learn to manipulate the dataset to answer predefined questions, utilizing Pandas for statistical analysis and Matplotlib for visualizing data with plots.
The easiest way to derive insight from data is to visualize it. It's time to create various graphical plots to visualize time series data and understand regression basics. We'll cover different charting methods in Pandas and Matplotlib, including bar graphs, scatterplots, and pie charts, and introduce regression analysis for forecasting.
Another way data can be insightful is by using it to make predictions for the future. Understand and apply multivariable regression to your data and come up with predictions that will be helpful for your retail business. We’ll learn to utilize different regression methods, using Python's Scikit Learn to perform regressions and interpret results, which will help in making accurate predictions.
The accuracy of a prediction depends on the variables that you choose to explain your data. You will need to test different predictor variables and models to determine which combinations provide the best sales forecasts, then interpret it in the context of the retail industry.
Now that you have a working prediction model, you’ll want to fine-tune it to increase its accuracy even more. You will iterate on previous models, combining approaches to improve prediction accuracy, and explain the improvements using examples relevant to the retail industry.
How do I convey my results concisely and effectively? Prepare a PowerPoint presentation to summarize your findings and recommendations, also ensuring your Jupyter Notebook is well-documented and organized for public viewing.
Present your analysis and business recommendations to your peers and instructors. Submit your final presentation and code.
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