Data Analytics Review of Ramen Ratings 

Summary

Based on the data, 3400 reviews have been collected for different varieties and styles of ramen across different countries and their respective ratings have been provided. A report for various criteria has been created and the points have been addressed.

Introduction

Mr Oishii Ramen wants to launch a new yet similar brand of ramen in the market for which he has asked Mr King to provide him with the data and research-based on which he can take his decision of entering the food market. Mr Ramen knows that some of the brands have not received good feedback or reviews from the customer, therefore he wants to be sure of everything before entering the market.
1.From the spreadsheet, briefly discuss the product reviews and explaining how you can interpret each product review correctly. Do the reviews on the spreadsheet suffice enough to help you to analyse ramen’s sales performance objectively at the country level? If yes, please explain.  (2 marks)   (max 100 words)

We can interpret each review by the user rating mentioned in it. But since the review count is not consistent for each country, we cannot say that the average rating would be a good indicator to analyse the sales performance at the country level. If the count of reviews was constant, then we could have compared objectively the sales performance of the basis of their ratings. We can see that the average rating is most for the USA as the number of reviews is also more.

2.The CEO OF Oishii Ramen would like to know if the ramen packaging style contributes to influencing consumers’ purchasing power? Does culture play a significant role in terms of packaging style? Justify your findings by showing two dashboards and explaining your rationale.  (3 marks) (max 200 words)

The packaging style contributes to influencing purchasing power for the customers as we can see that the total average rating for a different style of packaging is very different. The “Pack” packaging style has been favoured the most across all the countries therefore, having the maximum total count for average reviews. Pack style is almost available across all the countries that’s why the count of reviews and their score is higher as compared to other packaging styles. We can associate culture to the country from where we are getting the review. If we see the table, most of the countries have got Pack packaging available followed by cup but other packaging styles are not that much prevalent as we can see that the cells are blank for most of the records. Every country has got some of the packaging styles and not all. Therefore, country to country there is a difference in the approach or thinking of the people towards ramen.

3. In what way can Oishii Ramen’s headquarters use the rating and which rating is the most appropriate for them?  (2 marks) (max 100 words)

Created a pivot table using the different varieties of ramen and their respective average ratings for different packaging style. Based on the best rating for the respective combination of the type of ramen and packaging type, Oishii’s Ramen can choose the combination with the best average rating. The best rating would be the one having the most reviews with the highest average rating for the combination chosen.

4. Suggest a technique that you can use to demonstrate to the CEO the popularity of ramen in the country, and justify and show your method with evidence. (3 marks) (200 words)

We can use the number of brands that exist in a country to judge the popularity of ramens in that country. More the competitors, suggests that there are more and more players entering the market which in turn can suggest the growth of the ramen industry. Also, from the data, we can see that countries like Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan etc. have got the maximum number of brands in their respective countries. This tells us that most Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc. people consume ramen as the statistics for the number of brands favour these countries.

5. How reliable is the ramen ranking to the CEO if it is chosen to review the business’s sales performance or growth?  (2 marks) (max 100 words)

The ramen ranking is not that much reliable as the count for the number of reviews is very different for each country, style of ramen and variety of ramen. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the ramen ranking based on these parameters. One way to assess business performance can be to check for the presence of brands in a number of countries. If the brand is expanding its business or has its presence in many countries that means that the business is on a rise for the brand as a result of which they have their presence in multiple countries. Also, we can see that there are 28 brands whose presence is in more than 20 countries and 467 brands whose presence is in less than 20 countries. 

6.During the investigation, you want to propose some brands to discontinue. Which ramen brands would you suggest for discontinuation? Justify your answer. (4 marks) (max 300 words)

Finding the average rating for each brand. Then sorting the ratings in ascending or descending order to find the middlemost value out of 495 brands i.e. 248^th record. We will take that value as the mean value for ratings. The brands with average ratings below the mean rating which is 3.75 have been highlighted in red and therefore should be discontinued as their ratings are below the average ratings for other brands in the market.

7.Compare the reviews of ramen in Japan and Korea. Are there any similar reviews? If so, prove it. (4 marks)  (max 200 words)

Yes, the reviews are very similar. The count of the number of reviews for Japan is 606 and South Korea is 383. The average rating for Japan is 3.92 and that of South Korea is 3.86. We can see that the average ratings are very close for both the countries. The count for the number of distinct brands in Japan is 88 whereas it is 46 for South Korea. Even though there is a difference in the number of brands in both the countries the ratings are very close. Therefore, the number of brands is not an important factor in determining the average rating. Also, we can say that the number of reviews is more in Japan as a result of the average rating is slightly better. Overall, the reviews for both countries are similar.

8.Do Asia, Australia, and America have foods that taste similar to ramen?  (2 marks) (max 100 words)

Pasta can be considered as a food item that tastes similar to ramen and also has a specific variety of spaghetti pasta which looks or resembles like it. In Asia and America, Italian cuisine is very famous. Also, different style of noodles is very common among the three nations which taste almost like ramen when cooked in different styles.

9. If the new CEO would like to introduce a new ramen recipe in the Nepal and India markets, what recommendations would you make to him? (4marks) (max 300 words)

There can be two recommendations that the CEO can take up to introduce new ramen recipe in India and Nepal. Firstly, there are only two styles of noodles available in India i.e. cup and pack whereas there is only cup style available in Nepal. Therefore, the CEO can introduce a new flavour or taste cup noodles in the existing market in both countries. Secondly, since only two styles are available, the CEO can try to cater to the different styles which are not present in both countries. Therefore, this can help to gather the new market and expand its business.

10.Show three dashboards: 1. Which country has the most reviews? 2. Which country has the fewest reviews? 3. Which consumer ratings did consumers click that apply to all countries? (2 marks) (max 100 words)

The country which has the most reviews is Japan with 606 reviews.

The countries having the fewest reviews are New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal and the UK with just 1 review. 

There is no rating that was clicked by the user and applies to all countries. We can say so as no particular rating is available across all the countries. 

11.Due to the limited data on the review spreadsheets, what other fields would you recommend adding to the spreadsheet to provide more precise information to Mr. Hajita  to help him to find out about ramen’s poor review? And what sort of data or information do you think Mr. Hajita must know before he executes his strategic plan to discontinue an old ramen product and launch a new ramen product? Justify which countries need a new ramen flavour launch?  (2 marks) (max 100 words)

Some of the variables or features that could have been catered to get more insights about the rating are: 

1. Taste - On a scale of 1-5.
2. Service – On a scale of 1-5.
3. Spiciness
4. Number of Flavours
5. Veg/Non-Veg

Mr Hajita can carry out a survey to find out the preference of the audience in terms of style, flavour, veg/non-veg, spiciness etc., interested ingredients etc. which can help him to come up with the best ramen possible which is accepted widely by the people. The countries that must be targeted should be the ones where he receives the most surveys filled or where ramen is consumed the maximum i.e. Japan, South Korea, USA etc.

Conclusion

Based on the above report, Mr Ramen can take his decision and enter the ramen market with his product which is best suited for the people and ensures the success of his product.