Product Recommendations

This article outlines how Emcien can drive a product recommendation engine automatically with historical sales data.

Align your data with a use case

Note: This procedure uses the Retail Sales example data set. Your data should be similar to the example data, particularly the structure of a transaction_id or something similar to connect the items in each purchase.

retail_sales_2014_12_02.receipt.csv.zip

If your data doesn’t follow this same structure, please consult the Receipt Format page before contacting Emcien Support.

This data set contains retail transactions in the receipt format. While more difficult to manipulate, the receipt format is particularly helpful for sales data because it allows you to attach multiple items from the same category to each transaction through the transaction_id. This feature makes the receipt format ideal for basket analysis.

The sample data set contains five columns: the transaction_id, item_id, transaction_date, item_name, and item_category. Only the transaction_id and item_id are required fields, but the added transaction_date, item_name, and item_category give added information to be included in the analysis.

Note that the receipt format does not permit user-defined column headings. Some retail data sets include additional columns that relate more to the product than to the purchase, like product margin. These columns can be moved or rolled into the receipt format using the transaction_id. 

If your data looks similar to the Receipt Data format, you may only have to rename the column headers or change the column order. Other data will require more work. If you need assistance with the format, first refer to http://emcien.helpgizmo.com/help/article/link/preparing-your-data

Upload your data for analysis.

This article covers how to upload data files to Emcien using File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Make sure you've prepared your data before uploading to Emcien. Check out the Preparing Your Data article for more information. You can also email us at [email protected] for help getting started.

In Emcien version 2.14 you can now drag and drop files into the application for processing.  If you are using a previous version you can use one of the other methods listed below.

Simply open the Emcien application and select “Upload Data” Select the file that you wish to process, then drag and drop it onto the Upload Data screen Once it has finished uploading you can then click on “Analyze This Data” to process the file.

You can upload data files to Emcien using SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and your preferred FTP client, such as FileZilla or Cyberduck.

To connect to Emcien using your FTP client, use the following credentials:

Host: feeds.emcien.com

Username: {Your Emcien Feeds server Username}

Password: {Your Emcien Feeds server Password}

Launch your preferred FTP client. If you do not have a preferred FTP client, we recommend Cyberduck.

For this article, we use screenshots of Cyberduck.

Click Open Connection.


Enter the below credentials and click Connect.




Your FTP client will then display the files on your server.

Server: Your Emcien URL. This URL was set by your IT resource during installation.

Username

Password

Drag and drop your data file to the server files in your FTP application.

On the Emcien home page click Analyze Data. You’ll see the data files on this screen.

Click the Start button . The Start menu is displayed.

On the Start menu, click Computer. The Computer folder is displayed.

Right-click anywhere in the folder and click Add a network location.

The Add Network Connection wizard is displayed. Click Next.

On the next tab,select Choose a custom network location. Click Next.

On the next tab, enter your Emcien URL.

This URL was set by your IT resource during installation. Ensure you include FTP:// at the beginning of the URL.

Then click Next.

Clear the Log on anonymously checkbox.

Type data in the username field. Click Next.

On the next tab, name your shortcut Emcien by typing it in the Type a name for this network location field. Click Next.

On the next tab, click Finish.

Type feeds1 in the password field. Check the Save password checkbox so you can connect directly in the future.

Click Log On. You can now drag data files into this folder.

On the Emcien home page, click Analyze Data. You’ll see the data files on this screen.

On the Home page click Analyze Data.

The Analyze Data button will bring up all of your uploaded data. Select your data set.

Select a Project Folder, and if necessary rename the Report.

Once your project is organized, click Start Analysis.

The load screen will take you through each stage of the analysis.

When the analysis is complete you will hear a chime and the View Analysis button will be highlighted in green. Just click the button to see your results.

 

The Dashboard page for the Retail Sales data set is displayed. On the Dashboard page you can view the number of connected data values, the number of transactions analyzed, and more.

  1. On the Dashboard page click Clusters.


 

The Clusters page is displayed showing an overview of the connections in the data set. 

  1. On the Clusters page click A-Z to sort the clusters alphabetically.

  1. Click the Adhesives category.



The categories connected to the Adhesives category is displayed. In this data set, adhesives are connected to other adhesives, tape, and pens.



You can also see that in the Adhesives category glue guns and the sticks for the glue gun are connected.
  1. On the Clusters page, click on Colored Pencils & Markers.


Items in the Colored Pencils & Markers category connected to items in the Adhesives category are displayed. You can use the connections on this page to find point-to-point connections.


 

For example, transactions containing themebook purchases also frequently contain crayon, marker, filler paper, and glue purchases. You can use this information for cross-selling or to put together product bundles. 

  1. Click the GLUE;ELMERS;4 OZ;WE item.



The Item Detail page for the GLUE;ELMERS;4 OZ;WE item is displayed. On the Item Detail page you can see transaction trends for the GLUE;ELMERS;4 OZ;WE item over time.



You can also view items frequently connected with the GLUE;ELMERS;4 OZ;WE item.

  1. Click Explore Graph in the right sidebar.



A graph containing connections to the GLUE;ELMERS;4 OZ;WE item is displayed. Note that all of the purchased products are represented in this analysis, allowing these outputs to drive recommendations in real time. 

  1. Hover over the element on the graph marked THEME BK WR 1-SUB 92 BRIGHT item.




Items connected to the THEME BK WR 1-SUB 92 BRIGHT are highlighted.



Each of these product relationships can be analyzed automatically to deliver intelligent recommendations to customers in real time through an Emcien API. For more information on Emcien APIs click here.