FIVE WAYS OF ANALYZING SALES DATA IN EXCEL

To have a successful business, it goes without saying that you need to increase your sales, which leads to increased revenues and profits. Thus, sales are the most important part of your business as they keep it going. Apart from that, the sales that you do in a time period help you make future decisions regarding production, cost, expenditures, etc. Therefore, analyzing sales is a key activity that every business should perform. The question is how?

Five Ways Of Analyzing Sales Data In Excel

Here are 5 ways to analyze your sales data and make meaningful conclusions from it. 

• Heat Mapping

  Usually, sales data is extensive, so analyzing such huge numbers can be challenging at times. To perform quick analysis, you can use heat maps in Excel to clearly understand the data. All you have to do is Select the data, go to the Home tab, use Conditional formatting, and use color scales to assign different values to different colors. Depending on the range of the data, color scales make analyzing the numbers easier and faster. 

  
  

• Pivot Tables 

  A pivot table is an analysis tool that makes numbers easier to understand and modify as needed. Once you are familiar with the concept of creating a Pivot table, it doesn’t matter how large the data is; useful information can be extracted easily from it and used for further analysis. Just select the data, go to insert a pivot table, and drag and drop different fields into the respective rows, columns, or values.  

  
  

• Weighted Averaging 

  In sales data, not all data points are equal; while some data points carry less weight, some carry more. Thus, to reduce thigh, difference weights are assigned to a variable, on the basis of which further averages are calculated. Calculating a weighted average provides a true picture of the numbers. 

  
  

• Quick statistics

  For any data to be analyzed, it is essential to understand the basics. The basics of the data included a few statistical calculations, i.e. calculating min-max, median, mode, averages, mean, deviations, etc. While these are part of descriptive statistical techniques, they can also be used for hypothesis testing, based on which forecasting is done. 

  
  

• Trend Spotting 

  Sometimes, data is not as complicated as it is; some simple charts and visualizations make analyzing it easier. An essential chart in Excel for understanding sales data is the Line chart, also known as the trend chart. It is a simple analysis that helps you to know when your sales are at peak and when they are low. Understanding such points can help you make decisions like which months to produce more, which months to advertise more and so on. 

  
  

With technological improvements, the way of running a business has also changed. As an entrepreneur, it is imperative for you to understand your numbers to have a successful and growing business. Try using these 5 ways to analyze your sales data and make decisions.