Organizacija, Volume 41 Research papers Number 3, May-June 2008 Forecasting the Primary Demand for a Beer Brand Using Time Series Analysis Danijel Bratina, Armand Faganel University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, Cankarjeva 5, 6000 Koper, Slovenia, danijel.bratina@fm-kp.si, armand.faganel@fm-kp.si Market research often uses data (i.e. marketing mix variables) that is equally spaced over time. Time series theory is perfectly suited to study this phenomena’s dependency on time. It is used for forecasting and causality analysis, but their greatest strength is in studying the impact of a discrete event in time, which makes it a powerful tool for marketers. This article introduces the basic concepts behind time series theory and illustrates its current application in marketing research. We use time series analysis to forecast the demand for beer on the Slovenian market using scanner data from two major retail stores. Before our analysis, only broader time spans have been used to perform time series analysis (weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly data). In our study we analyse daily data, which is supposed to carry a lot of ‘noise’. We show that - even with noise carrying data - a better model can be computed using time series forecasting, explaining much more variance compared to regular regression. Our analysis also confirms the effect of short term sales promotions on beer demand, which is in conformity with other studies in this field. Key words: market research, time series forecasting, beer demand JEL classification: C22, M31 1 Introduction Despite being a powerful tool, Time series analysis (De-kimpe and Hannsens 1995) is rarely used in research by marketers. As the main reasons for this reluctance, they mention the availability of quality time series, the unavailability of time series analysis software, a lack of knowledge and a reluctance to use secondary data for modeling customers’ behaviour. At the same time, they announce that wide use of time series is still to come with advances in information technology, software development and an increasing number of academic studies devoted to the subject. This article presents uni- and multi-variate time series analysis applied to market research forecasting. We demonstrate how the primary demand for beer can be forecast better when using time series than with regular regression analysis. The rest of the article is organised as follows: first we present the basic time series analysis, starting with univariate ARMA models. Next, we provide some theory on multivariate analysis with special emphasis on the ARMAX models, which are considered as hybrid univariate models. We then analyse demand factors for a well established beer brand in Slovenia, illustrating the power of time series analysis in comparison with regression analysis. The conclusion summarises our findings. 116 2 Univariate time series analysis It is assumed that the reader is familiar with basic time series analysis modeling (autoregressions and moving averages), this topic is thus discussed only briefly. Our analysis begins with univariate shock analysis theory and evolves into ARMAX (autoregression, moving average regression with exogenous variables), which is becoming popular among market researchers. 2.1 The Autoregression process Let y t be the sales value at a given time t. A simple method for analyzing the fluctuation in sales is by using the past levels of sales to determine future: y = jj + (py + g , t = 1,....T, (1) where represents a constant, the regression parameter and noise, which it is often assumed to be white noise (where the mean value is 0, the variance is constant over time and has no serial correlation). The model shown in equation (1) is called the AR(1) process - autoregression process of the first order. It can be generalized into AR(n) by: yt=n+k + l (8) According to Hanssens et. al, there is a long term effect from SALESP if the operator’s order (A) required to differentiate the series to obtain stationarity is greater than 0. The series under observation was on sales promotion from 26.10.05 till 23.12.2005, roughly a month. To test any post-promotion effects, we’ll include the terms SALESP(-1) and SALESP(-2) in the regression to see whether a statistically significant coefficient would confirm any long-term effects. As our time series also behaves stochastically (ARMA), we need to include that behaviour in the regression equation. Putting all the factors into the equations, we get: yt=H + ^_8 + +5NEWYEAR + coSALESPt + coßALESP ^-h f co ßALESP t_ 2+ XTEMPERATURE (9) Using the least-squares methods, the coefficients are calculated and presented in Picture 4. All the coefficients are statistically significant except for SALESP and SALESP(-1). After eliminating these two variables, SALESP(-2) also becomes statistically nonsignificant, which confirms that no long-term effects are to be expected from sales promotions. Only a two day effect could be seen as too short for any meaningful significance and could catch the post-promotion dip effect (diminishing of sales immediately after the price promotion period due to stockpiling). We have tried to regress the sales by several lagged SALESP, but none has significant statistics. By eliminating the SALESP(-1) and SALESP (-2) terms, we get the equation: yt = 164 + 0.96 • yt_1 + 0.98 • yt_7 -0.96 • yt_8+ + e, -0.84 • e,_ -0.85 • st_ 7+ 0.68 • st_ 8 +609 • NEWYEAR + 132- SALESP + + 4.93 • TEMPERATURE (10) Regressen: Coefficient Std. Error R2 0.679744 Adjusted R2 0.674761 Figure 4: - Initial model regression analysis t-test prob. NEWYEAR 624.24 40.45 15.43 0.0000 SALESP 46.51 81.73 0.57 0.5695 SALESP(-l) -31.89 107.19 -0.30 0.7662 SALESP(-2) 161.35 82.19 1.96 0.0500 TEMPERATURE 5.22 1.08 4.82 0.0000 C 154.35 23.04 6.70 0.0000 AR(1) 0.97 0.01 80.85 0.0000 AR(7) 0.99 0.01 153.68 0.0000 AR(8) -0.96 0.01 -76.19 0.0000 MA(1) -0.85 0.03 -32.66 0.0000 MA(7) -0.83 0.02 -34.77 0.0000 MA(8) 0.70 0.03 20.79 0.0000 120 Organizacija, Volume 41 Research papers Number 3, May-June 2008 Regressor Coefficient Std. Error t-test R2 0.678121 Adjusted R2 0.674046 Figure 5: - Final model of the ARMAX regressors prob. NEWYEAR 609.32 40.16 15.17 0.0000 SALESP 132.33 43.86 3.02 0.0026 TEMPERATURE 4.93 1.07 4.59 0.0000 C 163.98 21.99 7.46 0.0000 AR(1) 0.97 0.01 76.62 0.0000 AR(7) 0.99 0.01 151.03 0.0000 AR(8) -0.96 0.01 -71.14 0.0000 MA(1) -0.85 0.03 -30.66 0.0000 MA(7) -0.83 0.02 -34.56 0.0000 MA(8) 0.69 0.03 19.92 0.0000 The statistics are shown in Picture 5. The demand for the analysed beer is thus dependent on the outside temperature, New Year and the promotional price. R square accounts for 67%. It is interesting to note that sales promotion accounts for a very small proportion of the variance (only 0.8%) and could thus easily be ignored. It needs to be stressed that the above model is only usable for the time series analysed and could not be generalized to all beer. Also, this brand has only been on promotion once off-season making it impossible to conclude that sales promotion on beer has negligible long term effects. What is more interesting is to compare our time series analysis with classical regression analysis, thus omitting stochastic trends. We use the least square method with the NEWYEAR, SALESP, TEMPERATURE regressors and a constant to compute the equation: yt =117 + 729- NEWYEAR +144 • SALESP + + 7'.17-TEMPERATURE (11) The statistics are shown in Figure 6. All coefficients are statically relevant, but the explained variance is only 25%. The effect of each single regressor is higher than when using time series analysis, but the relations are quite similar. 4 Conclusion The article builds a model for forecasting the demand for beer with time series analysis. In the introductory chapter the time series analysis theory is presented with special devotion to univariate time series analysis. Time series are useful for analysing economical variables ordered in series that are equally spaced over time. The Box-Jenkins ARMA model is presented as the basic model for time series analysis, which is upgraded to ARMAX model. Time series techniques are applied to model demand for beer on Slovenian market. It has been shown that this method considerably increases the power of forecasting compared to ordinary regression analysis. Analysis shows that the primary demand for beer, on a bi-polar market such as Slovenian, is mainly dependent on the seasonality (modelled with outside temperature), price and New Year dummy regressors. Time series analysis determines the true value of the coefficients for these Regressor Coefficient Std. Error t-test R2 0.252409 Adjusted R2 0.249315 Figure 6: - Regression analysis without the time series prob. NEWYEAR 728.98 57.49 12.68 0.0000 SALESP 144.59 25.41 5.69 0.0000 TEMPERATURE 7.72 0.74 10.49 0.0000 C 117.80 13.51 8.72 0.0000 121 Organizacija, Volume 41 Research papers Number 3, May-June 2008 variables by introducing autoregressing and moving average factors. It is shown that, by introducing moving average and autoregression factors, the exogenous demand factors’ coefficients (temperature, New Year and price) are adjusted (lowered). Autoregression analysis shows a typical weekly seasonality as well as the dependence of the series on the previous day’s sales, which is to be expected. The attempt to show any long term effects of sales promotions fails, confirming the evidence from other empirical studies on such effects. Traditionally, the effects of a sales promotion are measured on a panel of households using behavioural theory to assess any effects of marketing actions on the consumers’ brand choice (Keane 1997, Seetharaman et al. 1999). The majority of models show no long term effects from sales promotions. Newer models (using weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly data) and our study (using daily data) uses within-store POS data in a time series framework, showing same results. Daily data is particularly useful for studying the dynamics of the sales function when an affecting factor changes rapidly. Literature Autobox, Case studies - Regression versus Box-Jenkis (Times series analysis) Case studies, Available from http://www. autobox.com/pdfs/regvsbox.pdfl (Accessed, 31. January .2007) Bourgeois, J.C, & J.G. Barnes. (1979). Does Advertising Increase Alcohol Consumption? Journal of Advertising Research 4(August): 19-29. Box, G. E. P., & G. M. Jenkins. (1976). Time Series Analysis: Forecasting & Control. San Francisco: Holden-Day Box, G E. P., & C. Tiao. (1976). Intervention Analysis with Applications to Economic & Environmental Problems. Journal of American Statistical Association 70: 70-79. Bronnenberg, B. J, & L. Wathieu. (1996). Asymmetric Promotion Effects & Br& Positioning. Marketing Science 15(4): 291-309. Dekimpe, M. G, & D. M. Hannsens. (1995). The Persistence of Marketing Effects on Sales. Marketing Science 14(1):1-21. Dekimpe M., D. M. Hanssens, V. R. Nijs, & J. M. B. Steenkamp. (2005). Measuring short- & long-run promotional effectiveness on scanner data using persistence modelling. Applied Stochastic Models in Business Industry 21: 409-416. Franke, G. R., & GB. Wilcox. (1987). Alcoholic Beverage Advertising & Its Impact on Model Selection. Applied Mathematics & Computation 34 (November): 22-30. Franses, P. H. (1991). Primary Dem& for Beer in The Netherl&s: An Application of ARMAX Model Specification. Journal of Market research 28: 240-245. Hanssens, D. M., L. J. Parsons, & R.L. Schultz. (2001). Market Response Models - Econometric & Time Series Analysis, Boston: ISQM Kluwer Academic Publishers. Keane, M. P. (1997). Modeling Heterogeneity & State Dependence in Consumer Choice Behaviour. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics 15(3): 310-327. Leeflang, P. S. H., & J. J. Van Dujin (1982). The Use of Regional Data in Marketing Models: The Dem& for Beer in The Netherl&s. European Research 10 (January): 29-40. Maddala, G S. (1992). Introduction to Econometrics. New York: MacMillian Publishing Company. Seetharaman, P. B., A. Ainslie, & P. K. Chintagunta. (1999). Investigating Household State Dependence Effects across Categories. Journal of Market research 36(4): 488-500. Wichern, D., & R. H. Jones. (1977). Assessing the Impact of Market Disturbances using Intervention Analysis. Management Science 24(3): 329-337. Danijel Bratina is a lecturer at the Koper Faculty of Management (FM), University of Primorska, where he lectures on Marketing, Market research and Services Marketing. His field of study is quantitative market research and brand equity evaluation. He is currently preparing his doctoral thesis on the effectiveness of marketing promotion on grocery sales at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana. His bibliography consists of several contributions to scientific conferences and one scientific paper. He is editor of the scientific journal Management. He also has managerial experience in international business, where he has been working for Slovenian companies outsourcing projects to the far East. Armand Faganel is a senior lecturer and doctoral student at the University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper (FM). He has acquired 3 years of experience in business as sales manager, marketing manager, director of production unit. His areas of research include marketing, the higher education sphere, intercultural competencies, communication studies and the quality perception of services. His bibliography consists of four scientific papers, one review article, two short scientific articles, two professional articles, 20 scientific conference contributions, three independent scientific component parts in a monograph, etc. He is acting as Head of the Marketing Institute and Head of the Quality and Evaluations Centre at FM. At present, he is lecturing on Marketing, B2B Marketing, Marketing Communications, Consumer behaviour and Industrial products marketing. 122 Organizacija, Volume 41 Research papers Number 3, May-June 2008 Model povpraševanja po blagovni znamki piva z uporabo analize časovnih vrst Trženjski raziskovalci pogosto operirajo s podatki, ki so ekvidistančno porazdeljeni v času. Teorija časovnih vrst je primerno orodje za analizo tovrstnih podatkov. Tipično se uporablja za napovedovanje, ugotavljanje vzročnosti pojavov, v trženju pa je največkrat uporabljena pri analizah učinkov diskretnih dogodkov skozi čas. Članek prikaže osnovne koncepte regresijske analize časovnih vrst in predstavi njihovo aplikacijo v trženjskem raziskovanju. S pomočjo analize časovnih vrst postavimo model napovedovanja povpraševanja po znani Slovenski blagovni znamki piva z uporabo POS podatkov z dveh večjih slovenskih hi-permarketov. Naša analiza je prva, ki kot podatke zajame dnevno prodajo blagovne znamke (dosedanje so uporabljale širše časovne intervale - tedenska, mesečna ali celo letna prodaja). Slabost dnevne prodaje naj bi predstavljal visok nivo šuma v podatkih. Čeprav vsebujejo podatki veliko nepojasnjene variance, v prispevku pokažemo, da z uporabo časovnih vrst pojasnimo precej več variance kot z uporabo klasične multiple regresije. Analiza časovnih vrst nam tudi pokaže, da so učinki cenovnih akcij, kot enega izmed dejavnikov prodaje, kratkoročni, ter tako potrdi druge raziskave iz področja analiz učinkovitosti cenovnih akcij. Ključne besede: trženjsko raziskovanje, analiza časovnih vrst, povpraševanje po pivu 123 43