Central England Co-operative industry-led project

Tell us about the project?

The project which I undertook was an in-depth analysis exploring the basket data of Central England Co-operative Limited for association rules which may influence customer purchasing behaviours. This was done by using R and association rule mining techniques to analyse Co-operative datasets for association rules.

Why do a project linked to industry?

Honestly, I did not know what project to undertake for my third-year dissertation. When the lecturers were handing out lists of potential projects I did not feel that I would enjoy doing any of their suggestions. However, when an opportunity to do a project linked to an industry was advertised, I was interested. After reading the project brief, I chose to accept a project linked to industry.

I chose to do an industry-led project because it offered me hands on experience of working within an organisation. It also provided me with a good reference when I graduated. The project offers an excellent talking point for interviews, as employers are always interested in your dissertation and it sets you apart if you did an industry-led project rather than another project.

How would you sum up the experience?

At first, I was nervous going to the Co-operative head office to talk about what they expected me to do and what I wanted to gain from the experience. After regular visits, I felt more comfortable about the project and what I wanted to achieve.

It was interesting analysing the data to find out about customer purchasing behaviour. Overall, doing an industry-led project was challenging but fulfilling and it was a good experience.