2019/2020: MSCI582: Marketing Analytics and Modelling
Coursework resit
Part A (60% of the mark)
A marketer who works for a company Kettles Inc., has collected some data using a web crawler.
The dataset contains several characteristics of different popular kettles that anyone can buy on
Amazon. He thought that the following characteristics are important and has included them in
the data (Competition Data list in the spreadsheet):
 Brand
 Model
 Width (cm)
 Depth (cm)
 Height (cm)
 Volume (in Litres)
 Weight (kg)
 Power (W)
 Colour
 Cover material
 Warm function
 Type of kettle
 Price (£)
 Rating of the kettle on the website
 Number of reviews on the website
He wants to analyse the market and see what segments are still unoccupied. Bad news: he
doesn’t know how to summarise the characteristics and solve this task. Good news: you know
how to do multidimensional scaling and can produce perceptual maps that would help him see
the market better.
Assist the marketer in understanding the positioning of the competitors in the market. Is there
a "space" in the market for a new type of kettle? What should be the desired characteristics?
Are they feasible and do they make sense from the point of view of end consumers? Discuss the
implications for competition on the market.
Note: You may have no or very limited personal experience of the product of Kettles Inc. This is
up to a point to be expected! If you go into this sort of business it is possible that you will end
up marketing products you do not use. However, some research on the products may still be
useful.
1 MSCI582: Marketing Analytics and Modelling | Department of Management Science
Part B (40% of the mark)
The product was launched successfully. Two different lines of the same product were launched
(different product colours). Sales picked up fast and tempted other companies to enter in the
market. However, the market is quite competitive, so Kettles Inc. had to resort to an aggressive
promotional campaign. They have provided you with weekly sales data (Sales Weekly list). In
the same dataset they have indicated when there is promotional activity and the weekly price
of their products.
The company wants you to focus on a single product (black kettle). They have provided you
with the timing of the two different promotions they run. The first promotion (Promo1) is
regarded as a huge success, with massive uplift on the sales. It costs £40,000 every week they
run it. The second promotion (Promo2) has mediocre returns, but it is relatively cheap, costing
only £2,000 per week. Furthermore, they have provided you with historic sales prices (Price1).
They have been changing it over time, trying to estimate what is the price elasticity of the sales.
They also mentioned that variable cost is £8.55 per unit sold (fixed costs are not provided).
Furthermore, they have provided you with the prices of their second product in case it is
relevant (Price2). That product currently has no promotions running.
Kettles Inc. wants you to help them on the following tasks:
 Understand the impact of each promotion. Are they useful / profitable? Should they
have more promotions? What type of promotion should be preferred? Are promotions
necessary for their product?
 Understand the impact of prices. Did the recent changes in prices have a negative or
positive effect? Should they raise or lower the prices?
 Predict the demand for the next 13 weeks. If you suggest any changes to either their
prices or promotions provide predictions with the suggested changes as well and
explain clearly why they should make these changes. Assume that you do not have
budget constraints.
Submission format
Provide your findings in a short business report. The report should be tailored for decision
makers with adequate understanding of statistics and marketing analysis and modelling (you
should use technical terms when necessary, however you are not expected to explain what are
the methods you are using, for instance you do not need to explain what is regression). Your
analysis should be adequately documented and you should explain how you have
manipulated /processed the data. The report should include an executive summary (describing
the main findings and recommendations) and a short technical part. Page limit is 6 pages. Be
concise with your answers. Include statistical tables and figures if necessary, but only if they
add to your arguments! Table of contents and appendix do not count against your page limit,
however they are not needed!
Remember that you will be assessed on the clarity of your report. Good structure and use of
language are expected. Make sure that your arguments are clear and that they answer the
2 MSCI582: Marketing Analytics and Modelling | Department of Management Science
questions fully. Remember companies are not always fully aware of their problems, so they
may not ask exactly the right questions, because they are not aware of the true underlying
issues! However, they expect the report they get on their hands to answer all the right
questions, clearly and with adequate evidence. Use references only if they are needed to
support your arguments/analysis. We do not need to see references for the sake of having
references!
3 MSCI582: Marketing Analytics and Modelling | Department of Management Science