Adding a Simulation Scenario

Usually the first step in using the market simulator is to define a "Base Case" scenario. A base case typically reflects a current (or future) market scenario: your brand vs. the relevant competition. If there is no relevant competition, or your conjoint study was designed to model only your product, the base case may be a single product.

If you have defined a base case scenario or other scenarios, when you open the Market Simulator dialog, these will appear in the list of Simulation Scenarios. You can view or edit an existing simulation scenario by highlighting that scenario and clicking Edit….

To add a new scenario, click Add…. If a scenario or scenarios have already been defined, you are next asked whether the new scenario should be a copy of an existing scenario (used as a starting point, so that you don't have to re-enter common information again) or whether you want to start with a blank template.

The Scenario Specification dialog is then displayed:

The cursor is initially active in the Name: field. You must provide a name to identify the scenario. This name will appear in the Simulation Scenarios list in the Market Simulator dialog.

The Market Simulator lets you input the market scenario in a grid format, where the products are rows (you can have up to 100), and the attributes are columns (you can have up to 30). For example, you may have in mind to specify the following competitive scenario for a study that has three total attributes with three levels each:

Product Attribute 1 (Brand) Attribute 2 (Performance) Attribute 3 (Price) Product A 1 2 3 Product B 2 1 2 Product C 3 3 1

If you started with a blank template, only one line in the grid is displayed. A default label of "Product 1" is provided, which you can edit by clicking this field with the mouse. To specify the attribute levels that make up a product, click each cell within the grid and specify a level code. The attribute level labels and level codes are displayed automatically in the Attribute Level View window as an aid. You must provide a level value or an "N/A" for each cell in the grid under the attribute columns.

After you have fully defined the first product (row) of the grid, you are ready to add another product. You can add and delete products from the simulation scenario using the Insert Product and Delete Product buttons.

Insert

The products in the market scenario are specified in the grid central to this dialog.

Product

Each row of the grid represents a product concept. When you click Insert Product, a new row is added to the grid. You define a product concept by typing in level values directly into the grid for the attributes describing that product.

Delete

Deletes the highlighted product concept.

Product

OK

Saves any modifications you've made to the current dialog and returns you to the main market simulation dialog.

Cancel

Returns you to the main market simulation dialog without saving any changes.