Abstract : Retailers of products with short life-cycles (Apparel, DVDs, CDs, electronics, books, and toys) face issues in deciding store assortment and allocation due to non-availability of 'comparable' historical product sales data and due to significant variation in demand patterns between stores. We highlight a five-step methodology to optimize store-level assortment and allocation for such products. Our approach involves segmentation of stores and products on historical sales data adjusted for stock-outs and mark-downs.

Abstract : 'Next Best Product (NBP)' models predict the next product/service/offer that a customer is likely to buy/use, given the customer's previous purchase history in the same category. In this article, we present an NBP framework for financial services companies.

NBP models are particularly effective in cross-selling where data on past selling activity is not available (e.g., Relationship banking) or when there have been few co-ordinated cross-selling efforts. NBP models can also be used along with campaign response models.

• Raj's blog: "Analytics for better business"