INFORMS 2023 BSS Data Challenge Competition

BSS Data Challenge Competition


We are excited to announce the inaugural 2023 INFORMS Blue Summit Supplies Data Challenge in partnership with Blue Summit Supplies (BSS), an eCommerce company specializing in office products. This is an exceptional opportunity to apply your data analytics and machine learning skills to a real-world problem and compete for innovative solutions in the dynamic world of eCommerce pricing. We invite INFORMS community members to participate and develop your innovative solutions!


Challenge Overview:

In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, strategic pricing is crucial for driving profitability and gaining a competitive edge. To this end, we have teamed up with BSS eCommerce to address their significant challenge of determining optimal pricing for their vast array of products in a market where prices can change daily or even hourly. The current manual pricing process is not only time-consuming but also lacks the robustness that data-driven approaches can offer.


Data Challenge Task:

As a participant, your objective is to predict or decide the optimal daily market prices for eCommerce products sold by BSS, with the goal of maximizing their profit. By analyzing a rich dataset provided over two and a half years, which includes various sales and market variables, your task is to develop pricing analytics and optimization models that can effectively determine the optimal selling price for each product and predict the expected daily profit.


Key Dates:

Training Phase: Aug 1st - September 6th, 2023

Online Testing Phase: September 6th - September 24th, 2023

Report Submission Deadline:  September 24th, 2023


How to Participate:

1. Download Data: Access the provided dataset from the attached CSV file. This dataset contains sales and market variables for more than 200 office products over two and a half years.

2. Develop Solutions: Leverage the rich data to develop your pricing analytics and optimization models during the Training Phase.

3. Submit Your Solution: Prepare a technical report detailing your approach and results, and submit it before the Report Submission Deadline.

4. Live Testing Phase: In the Online Testing Phase, you will be provided with updated market data to apply your models and predict optimal prices and profits for assigned products.


Data Challenge Registration (Closed)

(Only one registration is needed per team. We'll communicate with each participant/team via email for the live evaluation stage on the BSS eCommerce platform.)


Real-world Impact: 

Your work will directly influence BSS's pricing strategies in the testing phase, leading to enhanced profitability and competitive advantage in the dynamic eCommerce market. Innovative Solutions: Showcase your data-driven approaches and innovative pricing strategies to address complex pricing challenges.


Prizes and Recognition:

Finalist teams will be invited to present their solutions at the 17th INFORMS Workshop on Data Mining & Decision Analytics (DMDA) and stand a chance to win prizes a total prize fund of $2,500. The top two winning teams will receive cash prizes, with the First Prize winner awarded $1,500 and the Second Prize winner receiving $1,000. Additionally, all finalists will be recognized with a finalist award plaque from the INFORMS Data Mining Society.


Contact and Questions:

For any questions or clarifications, feel free to reach out to the Competition Chairs:

Dr. Hieu Pham, Assistant Professor at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (Email: hieu.pham@uah.edu)

Dr. Shouyi Wang, Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington (Email: shouyiw@uta.edu)


Take this opportunity to put your data mining and analytics skills to the test and make a real impact on real-world eCommerce decision-making strategies. Attached you will find the detailed Data Challenge Introduction in a PDF file and a CSV file containing the dataset. Please make sure to review the guidelines and evaluation criteria provided in the document.


We look forward to your active participation and innovative solutions!


Best regards,


Hieu Pham and Shouyi Wang

INFORMS Data Mining Society 

Live Testing Submission:

During the testing phase, each team will submit weekly price recommendations for the assigned products, specifically for the weeks of September 11 and September 18. You will receive most recent data for your product before September 11. You can run your model and determine the optimal price for the week starting September 11. BSS will then implement your recommended price on their eCommerce platform for one week.  At the end of the first testing week (before September 18), you will receive updated data of the first week. Then you can submit a new price recommendation for the week starting September 18. Use the following links to submit your price recommendations: 



Testing Phase Price Submission for Week 1 (Sep. 12-18)


Testing Phase Price Submission for Week 2 (Sep. 19-25)




Note: As outlined in the data challenge problem statement, the judge panel will evaluate both your live testing performance and your technical report. Unlike many data challenges that focus solely on final result metrics, this challenge seeks innovative solutions for the open problem to determine product prices based on relevant market variables and competitor information. We recognize that markets are dynamic and that a short period of live testing has uncertainties. Therefore, the soundness, novelty, and interpretability of your pricing model and decision-making strategy will also be considered when selecting finalists, in addition to your testing performance. The deadline for submitting your technical report is September 26. In your report, you are welcome to include any numerical analyses or computational/simulation studies to validate your proposed method.



Write-up Submission Template


Please email your write-up submission to both hieu.pham@uah.edu and shouyiw@uta.edu before September 26th 11:59 PM Anywhere on Earth Time.

 

Rankings After Week 2:

Webinar Q&A Session:

Date: Friday, August 18, 2023 

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST (1:00 PM CT, 11:00 AM PST)

 

Webinar Agenda:

1. Direct Interaction with BSS: get a better understanding of the data challenge from the problem and data provider in industry.

2. Clarify Your Doubts: address any questions you may have about the dataset, the challenge problem, evaluation criteria, or any related topics.

3. Learn Best Practices: gain insights on how to approach the data challenge and maximize the effectiveness of your submissions.