The beauty or the beast inside retail stores?: a market basket analysis of a cosmetic company

Nowadays, companies have in storage a large quantity of customer data and do not take advantage of this. Given the state of the market, in order to stay competitive, retailers should know and adapt to the needs of their customers. One way to accomplish such task is to perform a Market Basket Analysis to the available customer data. A Market Basket Analysis examines transactional data to find which items are related to each other enabling retailers to create new marketing strategies such as store layout, product placement, pricing and promotions. In this study, a market basket analysis was performed to transactional data provided by a Portuguese cosmetics company with the purpose of finding which items are put in the same “basket” by their current customers. This analysis resulted in the generation of several association rules about customers with similar demographic variables such as, gender, age and geographical location. For example, this analysis allowed to discover the items that customers belonging to a certain gender and age group are likely to buy. For example, through this analysis it was possible to discover that women aged over 60 years old that buy the hair removal service {87880} will also buy the hair removal service {114325} with a confidence of 94%. It was also discovered that women aged between 35 and 44 years old that visit one particular store in the greater Lisbon area buy the makeup foundation 85945 and the cream 99282 will buy the cream 108741 with a likelihood of 89%. One other example of the association discovered is that customers that visit another store in the greater Lisbon area have a very high inclination to buy together the men’s’ perfume {73933}, the aftershave {84539} and the deodorant {105213}.Hoje em dia, as empresas têm uma grande quantidade de dados de clientes armazenada que não é aproveitada e, tendo em conta a situação atual do mercado, para se manterem competitivas, as empresas têm que conhecer e adaptar-se às necessidades dos seus clientes. Uma maneira de fazer isso é realizar uma Market Basket Analysis usando os dados do cliente. A Market Basket Analysis examina os dados transacionais para descobrir que itens estão relacionados, o que permite que as empresas criem novas estratégias de marketing, como o layout de loja, a alocação de produtos, preços e promoções. Neste estudo, será realizada uma Market Basket Analysis recorrendo a dados transacionais fornecidos por uma empresa portuguesa de cosméticos com o objetivo de descobrir que itens são colocados no mesmo carrinho pelos seus clientes atuais. Esta análise resultou na geração de diversas regras de associação sobre clientes com variáveis demográficas semelhantes, como o género, a idade e a localização geográfica. Por exemplo, ao realizar esta análise foi possível descobrir que mulheres com mais de 60 anos que compram o serviço de depilação {87880} vão adquirir também o serviço de depilação {114325} com uma confiança de 94%. Foi também descoberto que as mulheres com idades compreendidas entre os 35 e os 44 anos que visitam uma determinada loja da grande Lisboa que compram a base {85945} e o creme {99282} comprarão também o creme {108741}, com uma probabilidade de 89%. Outro exemplo do que foi descoberto é que os clientes que visitam uma determinada loja na zona da grande Lisboa têm uma tendência muito elevada para comprarem juntos o perfume masculino {73933}, o after-shave {84539} e o desodorizante {105213}

Consumers’ perception on Islamic home financing: empirical evidences on Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) and diminishing partnership (DP) in Malaysia

The Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) or Deferred Installment Sales facility is the most predominant mode of home financing in Malaysia since the introduction of Islamic banking in 1983. It is based on the debt financing where the bank buys the property from the customer and sells it back to the customer inclusive of profit. Customers make repayments at end of each month. This research examines the impact of using the prevailing debt concept which is claimed to have caused high price, customers‟ dissatisfaction, injustice and criticism by international scholars. In order to address these issues an alternative concept known as Musharakah Mutanaqisah or the Diminishing Partnership (DP) is also examined. In DP, bank and customers purchase the house jointly. The bank leases the house to the customers and rental payments are shared between them based on profit sharing ratio. The customer redeems the bank‟s share on monthly basis until full settlement after which the house is transferred to the customer. The study investigates the perceptions of customers between BBA and DP home financing products. A survey questionnaire was conducted on 300 owners and potential house owners to gauge their features and operations. The result of paired t–test indicated significant differences between these two products. DP home financing is a viable alternative to BBA home financing measured from the descriptive results and hypothesis testing. The actual implementation of DP is a challenge for the banks and requires a paradigm shift from their present role as traditional financiers

Attitudinal perception of cosmetic wear and damage of materials within the use phase of portable electronic products

During the use phase of products, a series of obsolescing factors contribute to why a product is disposed of. Currently the visual state of a product is considered primarily in terms of aesthetic obsolescence which is synonymous with influential factors such as changes in fashion or personal preferences in style. The physical condition of a product is not commonly understood within the context of product replacement and the physical changes due to use are not understood fully. The research contributes to and provides original empirical research findings for the current literature on product lifetime extension, material semantics, the circular economy, emotionally durable design and material culture. Through an initial exploratory study (Photographic Analysis (PA) Study) of previously unexplained types of wear and damage that occur on portable electronic devices a taxonomy of damage (TOD) was established which provided the nomenclature for further studies. The second study (Retrospective Assessment (RA) Study) established the attitudes to wear based on the wear type, location, material and the stage during ownership that the wear occurred at. The RA Study highlighted the differences in the attitudinal responses to differing types of wear and damage and identified the differences in the temporal assessments of wear and damage. A third study (Real Time Assessment (RTA) Study) aimed to confirm or repudiate the findings found in the RA Study. The focus during the study was attitudes to the wear and damage in relation to the differences in materials, the location of the wear and the type of wear and damage was also looked at and led to a fuller understanding of how products and materials are perceived during the use phase; a stage of the product lifetime that is not currently well understood in terms of users aesthetic or cosmetic sensibilities. The final study (Semantic Perception of Materials (SPM) Study) focused on the visual and tactile perceptions of materials. The study established attitudinal perceptions of wear and damage of materials with a quantitative research methodology which has produced a better understanding of material semantics within the context of electronic objects. Through the four studies, discussion topics arose and major findings of the doctoral study were drawn out and seen to be interesting enough for further research and study. These discussions include the importance of including cosmetic obsolescence into the lexicon of product obsolescence and product lifetime extension literature, the differences in the perceptions of materials when they are within the context of a product or being assessed as samples, how differing product contexts affect user perceptions of wear and damage on materials and the potential inclusion of a material wear index that could inform the material selection process that goes further than the technical aspects outlined in current material selection tools and literature