A retail company is facing declining sales over the last

Solution

Explanation: Defining clear objectives and identifying relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics is the foundational step in addressing any business problem. In this case, the objective could be increasing sales, while relevant KPIs might include sales growth rate, average transaction value, or customer retention rate. By aligning KPIs with organizational goals, a data analyst ensures the analysis targets actionable insights. Without this step, the subsequent analysis risks being unfocused, leading to ambiguous results that do not address the core issue. Establishing metrics also helps in benchmarking performance and tracking improvements over time. Option A: Building predictive models is a later step and requires clear objectives and clean data for accuracy. Jumping directly to modeling can result in irrelevant or unreliable forecasts. Option C: Conducting customer surveys can provide valuable insights, but it is an auxiliary step. Defining objectives and metrics first ensures that such surveys focus on relevant questions. Option D: Data visualization is a tool for interpretation, not for identifying or defining business problems. It comes into play after data is analyzed. Option E: Collecting new data is not always necessary at the problem-identification stage. Analysts should first leverage existing data to define KPIs and objectives.