Developing a Decision Support System for a Major Retail Company

Your Role: You are a Data Analyst for a major Clothing Retailer. Your tasks are to analyze data for the different styles, work on pricing and cost analysis, develop promotion plans for finding suppliers, and report back to the Chief Marketing Officer.

Data from Table 1

Table 1

style	cost/unit	price	margin	date	CurrentW_1	Week_1
99999	7.95	26.41	69.9	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100000	7.95	26.41	69.9	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100001	6.50	27.66	76.5	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100002	6.50	27.66	76.5	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100003	6.00	27.65	78.3	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100004	6.00	27.65	78.3	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100006	7.85	27.64	71.6	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100007	7.85	27.64	71.6	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286
100010	8.00	26.40	69.7	13-Nov	3/29/2015	19.4286

Table 2

style	SOLD1	Inventory1	Margin1	Cost1 of units sold	Cumulative Revenue1
99999	407	1521	56.2	3235.7	7387.3
100000	417	1055	57.5	3315.2	7800.4
100001	705	654	70.6	4582.5	15587
100002	831	554	71.2	5401.5	18755
100003	796	1024	72.7	4776	17495
100004	687	820	73	4122	15267
100006	638	1244	63.3	5008.3	13647
100007	670	858	64.1	5259.5	14650
100010	875	850	44.1	7000	12522

Table 3

style	Sales2 in week	Cumulative Sold2 end of week	Inventory2 end of week	Margin2	Cost2 end of week	Cumulative Revenue2 end of week
99999	70	477	1451	54.4	3792.2	8316.1
100000	54	471	999	56.1	3744.5	8529.5
100001	35	740	614	70.3	4810	16195
100002	30	861	520	71	5596.5	19298
100003	59	855	963	72.2	5130	18453
100004	54	741	766	72.4	4446	16109
100006	51	689	1187	62.5	5408.7	14423
100007	51	721	804	63.3	5659.9	15422
100010	48	923	794	43.1	7384	12977

Your Task

1. The goal is to sell all inventory in 36 weeks and the objective is to maximize your profit margins.
2. Please write a proposal (length 600 700words) in WORD describing the steps and methodology/models you would use if this project was assigned to you. Describe your proposed Decision Support System and complete all the calculations.