Brief Summary

Time Series Analysis

Forecasting is an attempt to predict future event, such as the level of sales or profit at some future date. 

Correlation – Linking Two Variables

Correlation is an attempt to asses the strength of a particular relationship between two variables, and from this predict the possible relationship for different values of the variables.

The Significance of Correlation

Correlation describes the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables (strong/weak, positive/negative), but how significant is a correlation?

Further Correlation – Residuals

Having covered scatter diagrams and their mathematical summary, the line of best fit, both of which show the correlation between two variables.

Measuring the Effect of Marketing Mix Expenditure

Marketing expenditure on advertising, promotions, sales force expansion, price reduction or other factors will affect your account performance.

Marketing Mix – Hit or Miss?

The following analysis will show the need for co-ordinating price, advertising, promotions and sales force effort to achieve higher sales.

Economic Order Quantity

If your buyer keeps pushing for more frequent deliveries, in smaller quantities and is more interested in service levels/logistics than your market proposition – economic order quantity may be the reason.

Account Efficiency/Cost Minimisation

Because NAMs are now managers of profit centres rather than simply selling boxes, Business Account Management means being aware of sales efficiency as well as sales growth.

Account Growth/Revenue Maximisation

Because of the surge in retailers’ bargaining power, higher sales targets can only be achieved in the long run by offering keener prices, i.e. selling more requires either volume discounts or margin improvement.

Account Profitability/Profit Maximisation

Growing the profit generated from an account means trading off between increasing volume and shrinking costs – the ultimate business management decision.

Justifying Price Changes

In today’s climate of the price conscious consumer, the status quo in many product categories is changing as brand leaders lose share to secondary brands/own-labels.

Account Productivity Measurements

Just as the retailer measures productivity to monitor the performance of operations, the NAM can conduct similar analysis to reflect the changing performance of the account(s).