JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING JAGITAL

(ACCREDITED WITH NAAC A+ GRADE)
NACHUPALLY (KONDAGATTU), JAGTIAL DIST -505501, T.S

MAJOR PROJECT STAGE 1

BIGMART SALES PREDICTION ANALYSIS USING
MACHINE LEARNING

Project Guide : Presented By:

T.Rajashekar M.Dinesh (21JJ1A1238)
Asst. Professor(c) of IT R.Yashwanth (21JJ1A1253)
D.Navadeep (21JJ1A1211)
MD.Affan (21JJ1A1236)
CONTENTS:

1. Introduction
2. Problem statement
3. Requirement Analysis
4. Dataset
5. Implementation
6. Techniques & Methodologies
7. Modelling and Score
8. Future work
9. Advantages
10. Conclusion
INTRODUCTION:
 BigMart is a leading retail chain known for offering a wide range of products, from groceries and
household essentials to electronics and apparel.

 BigMart sales data is crucial for understanding customer behavior, optimizing business
operations, and improving profitability.

 The dataset includes information for 1559 products sold across 10 stores, with attributes such as:
 Product-specific details: Weight, visibility, maximum retail price (MRP), and category.
 Store-specific details: Size, type, location, and establishment year.

 Analyzing BigMart sales enables businesses to make data-driven decisions to improve their
operational efficiency, enhance customer experience, and maximize revenue.
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
 In the highly competitive retail industry, understanding and predicting sales is essential for
optimizing operations, managing inventory, and enhancing profitability.

 Business Problem:

 BigMart, as a leading retail chain, faces challenges in accurately forecasting sales for its
various products across multiple outlets. Several factors, including store location, product
characteristics, seasonal trends, and customer behavior, influence sales performance.

 Objective:

 The goal is to build a predictive model that accurately estimates the sales of products in
different stores, based on historical sales data and relevant features.
 The analysis should identify the key factors influencing sales and provide actionable insights
to BigMart's management team for inventory planning, pricing strategies, and promotion
optimization.
REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS:
 Programming Language: Python 3.x
 IDE: Jupyter Notebook or any Python IDE
 Libraries:
 Pandas for data manipulation
 NumPy for numerical computations
 Scikit-learn for machine learning models
 Matplotlib and Seaborn for data visualization
 Hardware: Minimum 8GB RAM, Dual-Core Processor
 Operating System: Windows/Linux/MacOS
DATASET:
 The dataset consists of 1559 products across 10 stores in different cities. Also,
certain attributes of each product and store have been defined. The aim
is to build a predictive model and find out the sales of each product at a
particular
Variable store.. Description
Item_Identifier Unique product ID
Item_Weight Weight of product
Item_Fat_Content Whether the product is low fat or not
The % of total display area of all products in a store allocated to the particular
Item_Visibility
product
Item_Type The category to which the product belongs
Item_MRP Maximum Retail Price (list price) of the product
Outlet_Identifier Unique store ID
Outlet_Establishment_Year The year in which store was established
Outlet_Size The size of the store in terms of ground area covered
Outlet_Location_Type The type of city in which the store is located
Outlet_Type Whether the outlet is just a grocery store or some sort of supermarket
Sales of the product in the particulat store. This is the outcome variable to be
Item_Outlet_Sales
predicted.
IMPLEMENTATION:
Key Steps in Implementation:
1. Dataset Loading:
o Load the BigMart sales dataset for analysis.

2. Data Exploration:
o Analyze data distributions, Addressing outliers, and feature correlations.

3. Data Preprocessing:
o Handle missing data, scale features and encode categorical variables.

4. Model Training:
o Use multiple algorithms like Linear Regression, Ridge/Lasso, Decision Tree and Random Forest

o Perform hyperparameter tuning for better performance.

5. Evaluation Metrics or Score:

o Evaluate using test datasets and metrics like Root Mean Squared Error, R-squared (R²).

6. Interface Development:
o Develop a user-friendly interface using Flask or Streamlit for end users.
TECHNIQUES AND METHODOLOGY
Predicting sales in a dataset like this involves a combination of exploratory data
analysis, feature engineering, and machine learning.
The key steps and methodologies commonly used:
 Data Preprocessing:
 Handling Missing Values
 Addressing Outliers
 Normalization/Scaling

Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA):

Univariate Analysis
Bivariate Analysis
 Feature Transformation
MODELLING AND SCORE
 Machine Learning Models:
 Regression Models:
1. Linear Regression: A simple baseline for predicting sales.
2. Ridge/Lasso Regression: To handle multicollinearity and feature selection.
 Tree-Based Models:
1. Decision Trees:For non-linear relationships.
2. Random Forest: To improve accuracy using an ensemble of trees.
3. Gradient Boosting (XGBoost/LightGBM/CatBoost): High-performing
algorithms for tabular data.
 Evaluation Metrics/score: Use metrics that capture the accuracy of continuous predictions.
1. Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE): Penalizes large errors.
2. Mean Absolute Error (MAE): Averages the absolute differences.
3. R-squared (R²): Measures variance explained by the model.
FUTURE WORK
 Incorporating External Data: Include additional data sources such as seasonal trends,
regional demographics, or economic indicators (e.g., GDP, inflation rates) to enhance model
predictions.
 Advanced Feature Engineering: Experiment with domain-specific features like customer
purchasing behavior, promotions, or competitor pricing to better capture underlying patterns.
 Improved Models and Techniques: Utilize advanced machine learning models like Gradient
Boosting Machines (e.g., XGBoost, LightGBM) or deep learning techniques for better
predictive performance.
 Dynamic Model Updating: Implement real-time data processing and update the model
periodically to reflect recent trends, ensuring more accurate and relevant predictions.
 Deployment and Scalability: Develop an end-to-end deployment pipeline using platforms
like Flask, FastAPI, or cloud services to make the prediction model accessible for real-
world use at scale.
ADVANTAGES:
Inventory Optimization: Helps stores maintain optimal inventory levels by predicting
future sales, reducing overstock and stockout scenarios.
Improved Decision-Making:Assists management in making data-driven decisions for
pricing, promotions, and procurement strategies.
Enhanced Revenue Forecasting: Provides accurate sales forecasts, enablingbetter
financial planning and resource allocation.
Customer Satisfaction: Ensures product availability during high-demand periods,
improving customer experience and loyalty.
CONCLUSION:
The Big Mart Sales Prediction project demonstrates the power of data-driven approaches

in solving real-world business challenges. By leveraging machine learning and robust

feature engineering, it provides actionable insights for inventory management, sales
forecasting, and strategic decision-making.

This solution not only enhances operational efficiency but also paves the way for

improved customer satisfaction and profitability. With further refinements and integration
into real-time systems, the model holds significant potential to drive sustained
business growth.
THANK YOU
