“Money and Brains” and “Furs and Station Wagons” were evocative customer shorthands that the marketing company Claritas came up with over a half century ago.

These names, which facilitated the work of marketers and sales people, were shorthand descriptions of segments of customers identified through statistical cluster analysis.

Cluster analysis is also used in market analysis to group competitive products or firms. Astronomers use it to identify clusters of stars and galaxies, biologists to describe and analyze clusters of animals and plants. In finance, it is used to group similar investment opportunities together.

Learn about cluster analysis in:”Cluster Analysis“

Your instructor is Anthony Babinec, president of AB Analytics. He will answer your questions and comments on a regular basis throughout the course on a private discussion forum.

Most statistical software is capable of doing cluster analysis and may be used in the course; the instructor is familiar with IBM SPSS, XLStat, and R.