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Guide to Using the Purchase Basket

Step 1: Analyze Product Affinity (Affinity Map Tab)

This is the first tab, which answers the question: "What products are frequently bought together in the same transaction?"

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Caption: The Affinity Map tab, showing the color legend and the Product Affinity matrix.

This screen is broken into two parts:

  • A. How to Use (Filters):

    • Top Categories: Select the number of top-selling categories you want to analyze (e.g., 5, 10, 20).

    • Date: Choose the time period for the analysis (e.g., "Previous 3 months or this month").

    • Excluded Categories: Remove non-product categories (like "Shipping Fees") to get a cleaner analysis.

    • Level: Set the category hierarchy you want to analyze (e.g., Level 1 = "Apparel").

  • B. Interpreting the Report:

    • Color Legend: This key explains the "combo-strength":

      • Green = Bought together very often

      • Orange = Bought together often

      • Red (light) = Bought together sometimes

      • Red (dark) = Bought together rarely

    • Product Affinity Table: This matrix plots your categories against each other. The color at the intersection reveals their relationship. For example, if the "Sport" row and "Accessory" column intersect at a green square, it means those two categories are bought together very often.

Step 2: Visualize the Customer Journey (Product Journey Tab)

Click the Product Journey tab to answer the question: "After a customer buys from Category A, what category do they buy from on their next visit?"

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Caption: The Product - Customer journey tab, showing a Sankey diagram of purchase paths.

A. How to Use (Filters):

  • Top Categories: Select the number of starting categories for the journey.
  • Visits: Define the number of purchase visits to analyze (e.g., "5" visits).
  • Excluded Categories: Remove irrelevant categories from the analysis.

B. Interpreting the Report (Sankey Diagram):

  • Left Column (Initial Purchase): This represents the first purchase in the journey (e.g., "GENTS," "HANDLOOM," "KIDS").
  • Right Column (Next Purchase): This shows the category of the second (or subsequent) purchase.
  • Flows: The colored streams connect the initial purchase to the next one. The thicker the stream, the more customers made that specific journey.
  • Drop-Off: This is a critical metric. The large "Drop-Off" bar on the right shows the percentage of customers who did not make a subsequent purchase from any category within the analyzed timeframe.

Step 3: Track Category Performance (Category Growth Tab)

Click the Category Growth tab to answer the question: "Which product categories are growing or shrinking compared to last year?"

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Caption: The Category Growth tab, showing overall trends and a store-level data table.

A. How to Use (Filters):

  • Top Categories: Select the number of categories you wish to compare.
  • Store Name: Filter the entire report to see data for one or more specific store locations.

B. Interpreting the Report:

  • Category-wise Growth (Overall): This line chart is your primary tool for spotting trends.
  • Purple Line: Represents "Present Year Sales."
  • Red Line: Represents "Previous Year Sales."
  • You can quickly see if a category (like "MEN'S") is outperforming the previous year or if another (like "thirtyCategory") is underperforming.
  • Category-wise Growth (Store Level): This table provides the raw data used in the chart, broken down by store. It shows the exact Present Year Sales, Previous Year Sales, and the resulting Growth percentage.
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