Data Analytics: Sales Analysis
The last part in our series on the Data Analytics offered at Impact is about Sales Analysis.
What is a sales analysis?
- Sales analysis identifies trends, patterns, changes, and variations from expectations. Once a marketing initiative has been identified of interest, sales analysis seeks explanations in order to help manage all of the marketing mix elements: product, price/offers, market communications, and sales efforts.
- Some common questions answered by sales analysis include what proportion of sales variations are driven by calendar, distance to sales location, sales events, competitor behavior, consumer lifecycles, product lifecycles, and different market segments having different consumption patterns.
How does a sales analysis help us?
- Knowing the seasonal, monthly, and weekly sales patterns will allow you to make offers that are relevant to the consumer.
- Set revenue goals, create budgets and track against actual revenue and spending.
- Sales analysis shows you which products are performing the best, and whether there are associations between products.
- A product mix or cluster analysis can give you even more insight into the ideal product offerings and combinations.
- Maximize cross-selling potential. Identify customers that are missing key product components and make them an offer in order to avoid losing them to a competitor.
- Survival analysis helps you identify the time frame for consumer purchase decision process.
- Identifies how much time, from the point of contact, you have to close the sale before it is a lost cause. Offers can be made that attract shoppers and accelerate purchasing decisions.
- It helps you answer the question: “What is the optimal response period?”
What are the key concepts involved in developing and creating a sales analysis?
- Sales analysis helps you leverage your sales data to keep in touch with your customers and boost their post-purchase satisfaction by offering them the goods and services they want.
- Taking the time to get to know your customers will make it easier for you to offer them what they want, making them feel valued and building brand loyalty.
What is needed to do a sales analysis?
- Historical sales data (including name, address, date, and sale information).
- The greater the detail and accuracy of the sales data, the more granular and insightful the sales analysis can be.
How can I utilize a completed sales analysis?
- The insight gained from a sales analysis will allow you to identify causes of sales variations and trends, optimize timing of offers to stimulate the maximum response, and calculate overall return on direct marketing investments.
- By tracking current campaigns, you are able to use the success and/or failures to help shape the decisions you make regarding future campaigns.
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