Data Analysis

Case Study
Sphinx: Online Business case

Sphinx is B2C business which is selling products online to its customers since more than
10 years. Sphinx like any online business sells products online to its customers inside and
outside the country. Customer can pay via e-payment methods such as credit card or via
cash on delivery method. Sphinx has appointed a consultant firm to advise about what
data should be collected to reflect accurate view about the customers perceptions
toward Sphinx. The consultant firm has recommended 23 separate variables which is
based on a market nature of Sphinx customers. Three types of information were
recommended to be collected in form of surveys. The first type of information was
perceptions of Sphinx’s performance on 13 attributes (see below the definition). These
attributes, developed and captured through focus groups discussion, pretesting, and
application in previous studies, are considered to be the most influential in the selection
of players in the e-Business industry. Sphinx internal team has reached out to customers
who bought from Sphinx and asked to rate Sphinx on each of the 13 attributes using a 0-
10 scale, with 10 being “Excellent” and 0 being “Poor”; (Note: the scale is continuous and
called metric scale). The second type of information related to the purchase outcomes
and business relationships (e.g., satisfaction with Sphinx and whether the customer
would consider a subscription to the Sphinx Long Term Benefits Program LOTBP). A third
type of information is available from Sphinx’s data warehouse and includes information
such as age group of customer and length of purchase relationship. By analyzing the data,
Sphinx can develop a better and deeper understanding of the characteristics of its
customers. Only doing so, Sphinx will be in a good position to develop its action plans for
next year to improve its operations and to enhance its position in the market against its
rivalry. Brief descriptions of the database variables are provided in sheet "Variables", in
which the variables are classified as either independent or dependent, and either metric
or nonmetric. A definition of each variable and an explanation of its coding are provided
in the sheet "Variables".

Sphinx board has assigned this task to your group to help them build final understanding
of its customers in more objective manner. However, Sphinx board wants to plan for next
year and it wants to allocate the budget in an optimal manner. To do so, you will need to
perform different data analysis tasks in order to capture the impact and effect of
different factors and variables on some other key indicators.

Khaled Wahba, 2017. This case is modified from the original case by Hair – Multivariate Data Analysis, 2012.
Data Analysis

Description of Database Variables

Data Warehouse Classification Variables

X1 Customer Type
X2 Gender
X3 Age Group
X4 Location
X5 Payment Method
Performance Perceptions Variables
X6 Product Quality
X7 Online Tracking System
X8 Technical Support
X9 Complaint Resolution
X10 Advertising
X11 Product Portfolio
X12 Web-Site Image (Look and Feel)
X13 Competitive Pricing
X14 Warranty and Claims of the Purchased Product
X15 New Products
X16 Ordering and Billing Process
X17 Discount and Promotion
X18 Delivery Speed
Outcome/Relationship Measures
X19 Satisfaction (Overall)
X20 Likelihood of Recommendation
X21 Likelihood of Future Purchase
X22 Current Purchase Level
X23 Consider to subscribe in LOTBP offered by Sphinx

DATA WAREHOUSE CLASSIFICATION VARIABLES

As respondents were selected for the sample to be used by the marketing research
firm, five variables also were extracted from Sphinx’s data warehouse to reflect the
basic customer characteristics and their relationship with Sphinx. The five variables
are as follows:
X1 Customer Type -- Length of time a particular customer has been buying from Sphinx:
1 = less than 1 year
2 = between 1 and 5 years
3 = longer than 5 years
X2 Gender -- Gender of the Customer:
0 = Female
1 = Male

Khaled Wahba, 2017. This case is modified from the original case by Hair – Multivariate Data Analysis, 2012.
Data Analysis

X3 Age Group -- Two Age groups were defined based on cut-off age at 30 years old:
0 = Customer who is younger than or equal 30 years old
1 = Customer who is older than 30 years old
X4 Location -- Customer location:
0 = Local Customer
1 = Outside the Country
X5 Payment Method -- How customer does pay the bill:
0 = Credit Card
1 = Cash on Delivery

PERCEPTIONS OF Sphinx
Each respondent’s perceptions of Sphinx on a set of business functions were
measured on a graphic rating scale, where a 10-centimeter line was drawn between
the end-points, labeled “Poor” and “Excellent".

As part of the survey, respondents indicated their perceptions by making a mark

anywhere on the line. The location of the mark was electronically observed and the
distance from 0 (in centimeters) was recorded in the database for that particular
survey (respondent). The result was a scale ranging from 0 to 10, rounded to a single
decimal place, (see sheet DataSet). The 13 Sphinx attributes rated by each respondent
were as follows:

X6 Product Quality -- Perceived level of quality of the received products (external, internal
packaging and the quality of the product itself)
X7 Online Tracking System -- Perceived level of satisfaction regarding the order online
tracking system
X8 Technical Support -- Extent to which technical support is offered to help solve
product/service issues
X9 Complaint Resolution -- Extent to which any complaints are resolved in a timely and
complete manner
X10 Advertising -- Perceptions of Sphinx’s advertising campaigns in all types of media
X11 Product Portfolio -- Depth and breadth of Sphinx’s product line to meet customer needs
X12 Web-Site Image -- Overall image of Sphinx’s website (Look & Feel), Web Site user-
friendliness and ease of use
X13 Competitive Pricing -- Extent to which Sphinx offers competitive prices for similar
products at other providers' site
X14 Warranty and Claims -- Extent to which Sphinx stands behind its product/service
warranties and claims
X15 New Products -- Extent to which Sphinx promotes and sells new products
X16 Ordering and Billing Process -- Perception that ordering and billing process is handled
efficiently and correctly
X17 Discount and Promotion -- Perceived satisfaction regarding the discount and promotion
Sphinx offers to its customers when they place high amount order

Khaled Wahba, 2017. This case is modified from the original case by Hair – Multivariate Data Analysis, 2012.
Data Analysis

X18 Delivery Speed – Perceived satisfaction regarding the time it takes Sphinx to deliver the
products once an order has been confirmed

PURCHASE OUTCOMES
Five specific measures were obtained that reflected the outcomes of the respondent’s
purchase relationships with Sphinx. These measures include the following:
X19 Customer Satisfaction -- Customer satisfaction with past purchases from Sphinx,
measured on a 10-point graphic rating scale
X20 Likelihood of Recommending Sphinx -- Likelihood of recommending Sphinx to friends
and relatives, measured on a 10-point graphic rating scale
X21 Likelihood of Future Purchases from Sphinx -- Likelihood of purchasing from Sphinx in
the future, measured on a 10-point graphic rating scale
X22 Percentage of Purchases from Sphinx -- Percentage of the purchasing from Sphinx with
respect to other e-Business providers, measured on a 100-point percentage scale
X23 Perception of Future Relationship with Sphinx -- Extent to which the customer would
consider to subscribe in the Long Term Benefits Program (LOTBP) with Sphinx in the Future:
0 = Would not consider it
1 = Yes, would consider to subscribe in the LOTBP offered by Sphinx

Khaled Wahba, 2017. This case is modified from the original case by Hair – Multivariate Data Analysis, 2012.