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Retail trends always keep on changing. With digital transformation taking charge in all the industries, retail is no exception. Retail trends during the holiday season especially, are interesting to study.

Following are some visualizations around these trends in retail during the holiday season. The Claim of all of them is that the sales rise high during the holiday season in retail. The Audience is different players in the retail sector.

Following is first of the set, which shows number breakup based on key holidays. This gives a good picture of how much is spent during different holidays.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzau8FgD0T1AUmRTLTQ1cFdEZXM

Things missing in this visualization:

Incomplete data: The year of the data is not mentioned in the source which leaves the data incomplete.

Unreadability: As many figures are mentioned in the pie chart along with multiple colors, it’s difficult to read the data.

Following is another way to look at the data where it shows the overall retail sales over the years and also shows the specific percentage of e-Commerce in the overall sales. This gives a good picture of the total sales trend in retail with a focus on eCommerce.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzau8FgD0T1AQnBRUmJta2FZTWM

Context: One thing missing in the above data is, it doesn’t mention if its US specific data or any other countries are involved as well, that would help put these values in context.

Following is another such visualization in the same category. This  demonstrates the sales during holiday time along with the YOY % increase over time. However this focuses on the Online sales. The warrant in this case is Forrester which makes it more genuine.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzau8FgD0T1AM0RnNWxqZEs0OXM

Things that could be done better:

I feel if all the above data points are put together if would give a good picture of the retail sales trend.

• First chart should be the ‘overall retail sale’ showing YOY % increase.
• Then, a deep dive into the ‘e-commerce’ specific sale per holiday to show YOY change against the overall sale by holiday.
• And finally the chart which shows absolute number of sale for retail by holiday season over years, as a bar chart.

References:

Silicon Alley Insider Chart of the day

https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrTcYR9jR5ZTV8APKwunIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTIyZmFoZWxnBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAMyNGQ5M2IzYjRkZGFhOGEzNzhhM2FhNmIyMWRlYjYwNgRncG9zAzYEaXQDYmluZw–?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dholiday%2Bsales%2Bgraphs%26n%3D60%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyhs-mozilla-002%26fr2%3Dsb-top-images.search.yahoo.com%26hsimp%3Dyhs-002%26hspart%3Dmozilla%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D6&w=610&h=404&imgurl=s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F80%2Fbb%2F65%2F80bb6502df47c107be613ce4f9605017.jpg&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fliberteks%2F2017-smb-success-trends%2F&size=18.0KB&name=Retail+%3Cb%3EHoliday%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3ESales%3C%2Fb%3E%2C+Explained+in+5+%3Cb%3EGraphs%3C%2Fb%3E&p=holiday+sales+graphs&oid=24d93b3b4ddaa8a378a3aa6b21deb606&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&tt=Retail+%3Cb%3EHoliday%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3ESales%3C%2Fb%3E%2C+Explained+in+5+%3Cb%3EGraphs%3C%2Fb%3E&b=0&ni=144&no=6&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11saqpief&sigb=15j33p5de&sigi=12f22raio&sigt=120clcnqq&sign=120clcnqq&.crumb=nVfANCsALA/&fr=yhs-mozilla-002&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&hsimp=yhs-002&hspart=mozilla

CBRE 2016 Holiday Sales Chart

 

In the era of computers and the internet, it is hardly surprising that we are exposed to a startling amount of data on a daily basis. Most of the data is presented either in a clutter or in the forms of complicated graphs, pie charts, balloons and tables which would prove to be a challenge for the unprepared mind. To make things worse, an almost unlimited access to computers and the web has already set the tone for the exchange/sharing of a huge amount of information. If one is to tackle this problem efficiently, there need to be certain methods to sort out and arrange the information into a more organized pattern.  Renowned journalist David McCandless acknowledges this problem in his TED talk and presents his viewers with a unique and practical approach towards mitigating the same.

To make sense of the myriad of information, start off with the obvious – Use our eyes more, but use it with purpose. The importance of this is laid bare in a study which shows that around 75% of the information entering our brains for processing is through the eyes. Evolution has designed eyes in such a way that it can detect patterns, colors and shapes ‘in the blink of an eye’. This would allow us to concentrate on the important aspects more and to put aside the frivolous information.   

Context is extremely important when it comes to making sense out of data. The importance of this is made obvious by comparing and contrasting the absolute and relative figures. While an absolute figure shows the data as a whole, relative figures take into account a lot of factors and provide a more detailed analysis of the same. This brings to our attention an important point – Data without context can be misleading and may result in confusion.

Organized data may be made much more useful by building on a large database of information and converting it into an interactive application which sorts out and projects the information necessary for the user. This reflects positively on how a clutter of data may be organized and programmed into providing a lot of useful information if worked on in the right way.

Source : http://ed.ted.com/lessons/david-mccandless-the-beauty-of-data-visualization