Overview
This intermediate course develops practical analytical skills for evaluating marketplaces and making informed pricing decisions. Students examine demand, willingness to pay, elasticity, customer segments, competition, product assortment, promotions, revenue, margins, and marketplace structure using realistic transaction, survey, and marketplace datasets.
The course emphasizes interpretation, judgment, and communication rather than advanced programming. Students use spreadsheets and accessible analytics tools to perform descriptive statistics, assess data quality, conduct exploratory analysis, construct charts and dashboards, develop basic forecasts, evaluate A/B testing concepts, estimate price sensitivity, calculate break-even and contribution margins, and compare dynamic, personalized, and auction-based pricing alternatives.
The course also addresses platform fees, marketplace design, algorithmic risks, access, and fairness. A culminating project requires students to analyze a product or marketplace, develop and test a pricing model, communicate uncertainty, and present a data-supported recommendation with expected financial and customer outcomes.
Learning Outcomes
- Calculate and interpret core marketplace metrics, including conversion, revenue, margin, retention, average order value, and customer acquisition measures.
- Evaluate data quality, descriptive statistics, exploratory analyses, charts, and dashboards for their relevance to marketplace and pricing decisions.
- Estimate and interpret basic demand relationships, willingness to pay, elasticity, price sensitivity, and break-even conditions using spreadsheet-based models.
- Compare pricing alternatives, including promotional, dynamic, personalized, auction, and platform-fee structures, under stated assumptions.
- Distinguish correlation from causation in simple business contexts and evaluate the implications of A/B testing evidence and forecast uncertainty.
- Assess the financial, customer, algorithmic, ethical, access, and fairness risks associated with marketplace and pricing decisions.
- Synthesize transaction or survey evidence into a pricing model, test its assumptions, and formulate a defensible recommendation.
- Present a clear, data-supported pricing recommendation that explains expected revenue, contribution margin, customer outcomes, limitations, and uncertainty.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Lab | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Fortnightly | All semester |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Quiz | Quizzes (5 × 2%) | 10.00% |
| Assignment | Descriptive analytics and data-quality assignment | 15.00% |
| Test | Spreadsheet modeling and scenario analysis practical test | 15.00% |
| Deliverable | Marketplace pricing analysis project report | 25.00% |
| Capstone | Pricing recommendation presentation | 10.00% |
| Exam | Final examination | 25.00% |
Prerequisites
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.