IPA IP 2021 Question 21

A question IPA Japan published in 令和3年度 ITパスポート試験公開問題問21, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.

Same question on ITPEC: Apr 2026 Q71

Which of the following is an appropriate example of ABC analysis?

a)The consumption behavior of customers is analyzed from the three (3) perspectives of the period, the age, and the generation.b)The analysis of a company’s products is performed by categorization into three (3) groups in descending order of total sales.c)The analysis of the marketing environment is performed from the three (3) perspectives of the customers, the competitors, and the company.d)The analysis of repeat customers is performed from the three (3) perspectives of the last purchase date, the purchase frequency, and the purchase amount.

Explanation

Categorizing products into three groups in descending order of total sales — ABC analysis ranks items by their contribution so that the few important ones get the closest management.

Items are sorted in descending order of sales (or inventory value), the cumulative share of the total is computed, and they are divided into group A (the top items, up to roughly 70–80% of the total), group B (the next ones, up to about 90%) and group C (the rest). It is drawn as a Pareto chart and relies on the Pareto principle: a small number of items account for most of the value, so group A receives the strictest stock control and sales effort.

Answer (b)

Why not others:

•(a) — separating the effects of period, age and generation on consumption is cohort analysis (age–period–cohort analysis)
•(c) — customers, competitors and the company are the three Cs of 3C analysis
•(d) — last purchase date, purchase frequency and purchase amount are the recency, frequency and monetary value of RFM analysis

Key rule: Several techniques come in threes: ABC analysis splits items into three groups by cumulative share, 3C analysis looks at three parties, RFM analysis scores customers on three measures.

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This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.