Circulation: Use Regression Analysis to Optimize Catalog Circ and Sales Data

Regression analysis has become much simpler to do since it first appeared a few years ago.

Although it sounds intimidating, regression analysis simply allows you to quantify the relationship between two variables, such as the comparison between discounts offered and a sales increase. It enables you to predict what a sales increase would be with a given discount offer and be statistically correct more than 95 percent of the time. If the correlation is too small or even non-existent, you then can look for other factors that may be affecting your bottom line.