Numbers don't lie! The average American supermarket stocks over 47,000 products. Have you ever wondered how they decide the placement of items on shelves or which items get the biggest promotions? Well, it's all in the data.
By analyzing customer purchases, supermarkets transform simple sales receipts into powerful insights which boost sales and higher profits. For this analysis, I have used a sample superstore dataset, which has sales data across different categories, regions and customer segments. You can check out the dataset here.
Key Insights
Observation 1: Sales by Category
The data was based on three main categories i.e technology, furniture and office supplies. Technology is leading in sales but the close margins indicate that no single category dominates significantly. This calls for a more balanced strategy across all categories when it comes to marketing to maximize overall sales.
Profitability by Sub-Category
While overall sales indicate a balance across the three main categories, a closer look into the sub-categories tells us who the key players are. Phones(Technology) and Chairs(Furniture) outperform others in their respective categories and drive the highest sales. This insight suggests that businesses should perform inventory optimization for these high-performers and offer targeted discounts which could further enhance profitability.
Regional Sales Distribution
A quick spot check shows California, New York, Texas and Washington to be the best-performing states. The focus should be on the strong markets whilst consolidating the lower-performing regions.
Further Analysis & Next Steps
The purpose of this analysis was to provide initial insights hence there is a need for further analysis to uncover deeper insights. Future studies could focus on:
- How high discounts affect sales and profitability.
- Customer segmentation in sales.
Data is a powerful tool that when leveraged can help those in the retail industry refine their approach for better sales and profitability.
Want to grow your data analyst skills? Check out HNG
Top comments (0)