Question 2

Suppose you are the market analyst of a soft drink company. Your soft drink brand manager has recently looked at the aggregate purchasing data in two periods and found that there is a decline in the sales to the heavy buyer group, from 384 units to 308 units (about 20% decline). She is concerned about this as she thinks that if sales to the heavy buyers keep falling, eventually total sales will also fall since, as she argues, the heavy buyers are those who contribute most to sales.

As the market analyst you know that there is always some natural variation from period to period in purchases. Apply the conditional trend analysis to the full data set (data for question 2). Present your findings to the brand manager. Advise her if her concerns are supported by your analysis. Discuss the managerial implications of your findings.