Executive Summary
Key findings from the market basket analysis
Across 820 transactions and 1124 unique products, the Apriori algorithm discovered 8165 association rules. The strongest association has a lift of 820, meaning those products are bought together 820x more often than chance would predict. The average lift across all rules is 444.04, indicating consistent cross-selling opportunities throughout the catalogue.
Most Frequently Purchased Items
Top 30 products ranked by transaction support
The most frequently purchased item is 'JUMBO BAG RED RETROSPOT', appearing in 1.5% of all transactions. These high-frequency items act as anchor products: they generate the most rules and appear on both sides of many associations. High item support alone doesn't mean a product has strong affinities — lift accounts for this popularity bias when evaluating rule strength.
Top Association Rules by Lift
Top 20 rules sorted by lift (strongest associations first)
| Lift | Count | Support | Confidence | Antecedents | Consequents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | PINK DINER WALL CLOCK | EDWARDIAN PARASOL RED |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | EDWARDIAN PARASOL RED | PINK DINER WALL CLOCK |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | MAGIC DRAWING SLATE LEAP FROG | MINI JIGSAW DOLLY GIRL |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | MINI JIGSAW DOLLY GIRL | MAGIC DRAWING SLATE LEAP FROG |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | 36 PENCILS TUBE RED RETROSPOT | CHILDREN'S CIRCUS PARADE MUG |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | CHILDREN'S CIRCUS PARADE MUG | 36 PENCILS TUBE RED RETROSPOT |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | PACK OF 60 DINOSAUR CAKE CASES | WHITE WICKER STAR |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | WHITE WICKER STAR | PACK OF 60 DINOSAUR CAKE CASES |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | HANGING BAUBLE T-LIGHT HOLDER SMALL | PENS ASSORTED SPACEBALL |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | PENS ASSORTED SPACEBALL | HANGING BAUBLE T-LIGHT HOLDER SMALL |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | CERAMIC CHERRY CAKE MONEY BANK | EDWARDIAN PARASOL BLACK |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | EDWARDIAN PARASOL BLACK | CERAMIC CHERRY CAKE MONEY BANK |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | CHRISTMAS RETROSPOT ANGEL WOOD | RECIPE BOX RETROSPOT |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | RECIPE BOX RETROSPOT | CHRISTMAS RETROSPOT ANGEL WOOD |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | MADRAS NOTEBOOK MEDIUM | VANILLA SCENT CANDLE JEWELLED BOX |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | VANILLA SCENT CANDLE JEWELLED BOX | MADRAS NOTEBOOK MEDIUM |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | RUSTIC STRAWBERRY JAM POT LARGE | SET 12 COLOURING PENCILS DOILY |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | SET 12 COLOURING PENCILS DOILY | RUSTIC STRAWBERRY JAM POT LARGE |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | SCENTED VELVET LOUNGE CANDLE | SET OF 6 FUNKY BEAKERS |
| 820 | 1 | 0.0012 | 1 | SET OF 6 FUNKY BEAKERS | SCENTED VELVET LOUNGE CANDLE |
The highest-lift rule links 'PINK DINER WALL CLOCK' to 'EDWARDIAN PARASOL RED' with a lift of 820 and 100% confidence. Lift above 1 confirms the association is non-random — these products are genuinely more likely to be purchased together than their individual popularity would suggest. Rules are sorted by lift so the most actionable cross-sell pairs appear first.
Support vs. Confidence of All Rules
Scatter of all discovered rules; bubble size = lift
Each point represents one association rule plotted by its support (x-axis) and confidence (y-axis), with bubble size proportional to lift. 8165 rules are shown in total; the 2324 highest-lift rules (top 10% by lift, lift >= 820) are the most actionable. Rules in the upper-left region are reliable but niche (high confidence, low support), while upper-right rules are both common and reliable cross-sell opportunities.
Distribution of Rule Lift Values
Histogram of lift values across all discovered rules
The lift distribution shows that most rules cluster around an average of 444.04, with the strongest rule reaching 820. 90% of rules have a lift below 820, meaning a small number of high-lift rules account for the most powerful associations. A right-skewed distribution is typical: many rules with modest lift and a long tail of exceptional product affinities that deserve priority attention in merchandising.
Top Recommended Products (Consequents by Avg Lift)
Products most frequently recommended with highest average lift
Products that appear as rule consequents with high average lift are prime cross-sell targets. '12 PENCIL SMALL TUBE WOODLAND' leads with an average lift of 820 across all rules where it appears as the predicted purchase. These products should be prominently featured in recommendation widgets, product-detail page suggestions, and checkout prompts alongside their associated antecedents.
Rule Set Statistics
Aggregate metrics describing the full discovered rule set
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Rules Discovered | 8165 |
| Transactions Analysed | 820 |
| Unique Products | 1124 |
| Min Support Threshold | 0.001 |
| Min Confidence Threshold | 0.3 |
| Average Lift | 444.037 |
| Maximum Lift | 820 |
The analysis examined 820 multi-item transactions and produced 8165 association rules meeting the configured thresholds. These statistics characterise the overall richness of the rule set: a high average lift indicates that most discovered rules reflect genuine product affinities rather than mere coincidence driven by item popularity. Adjusting min_support and min_confidence tunes the breadth-depth tradeoff — lower thresholds yield more rules but may include weaker associations.