Forecasting Sales in e-Commerce: Insights from Exploratory Data Analysis and Machine Learning Techniques

Sales forecasting in e-commerce is essential for optimizing inventory management, enhancing customer satisfaction, and supporting strategic decision-making.This study investigates sales forecasting using exploratory data analysis (EDA) and advanced feature engineering techniques.Utilizing rich data from a prominent household items retailer in Saudi Arabia, key patterns and trends influencing sales performance are identified.Several predictive models are developed and their performances are evaluated, with a particular focus on the impact of domain-specific features and state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms on forecast accuracy.The findings demonstrate that incorporating domain-specific features and advanced machine learning techniques significantly improves sales forecasting precision.This research provides valuable insights and practical methodologies for practitioners and researchers aiming to enhance their e-commerce sales forecasting capabilities.The implications of the results are discussed, providing a solid foundation for future work in the field.