Data Visualisation: Empowering Business with Effective Insights
This virtual experience program is with Tata Insights and Quants or Tata iQ hosted on the platform Forage. We will gain insight into how passionate multi-disciplinary experts solve some of the most complex business problems using data visualization solutions, such as Tableau and Power BI and create amazing stories which are hidden under the mountains of data generated.
The program will show you what kind of problems are solved at Tata Insights and Quants on a day-to-day basis and will attempt to emulate the challenges you will be facing.
As a consultant hired by an online retail store, I was tasked with reviewing their data and providing valuable insights to the CEO and CMO. The objective was to analyze the major contributing factors to the company's revenue to help them plan strategically for the next year. The leadership wanted to view the metrics from both an operations and marketing perspective and seek guidance on areas performing well, so they could focus on what's working. They were also interested in understanding different metrics based on demographic information available in the data.
Task 1: Framing the Business Scenario
Learn how to anticipate the questions your business leaders will need answers to.
To prepare for the upcoming meeting with the CEO and CMO, I approached the task with a business leader's mindset, aiming to analyze the data effectively and present insights that would help evaluate the current business performance and suggest metrics for expansion.
I accessed the provided resources to better understand how business leaders think and approach business performance, which helped me gain valuable perspectives.
To prepare for your meeting, I need to draft questions that will be important and relevant to the CEO and CMO. I have reviewed the provided dataset to identify valuable information and insights. Based on my analysis, I have drafted four questions each for both the CEO and CMO, considering their distinct perspectives.
Questions for the CEO:
- What are the top-performing product categories in terms of revenue, and how have they evolved over the past year? Are there any specific trends or seasonal patterns that stand out?
- What regions or countries have shown the highest revenue growth, and what strategies have been employed in those regions to achieve such success? How can we replicate these strategies in other markets?
- How has the customer retention rate changed over the last year, and what initiatives have been implemented to improve customer loyalty? What can we do to further increase customer retention and lifetime value?
- What is the profitability breakdown across different customer segments, and which segments contribute the most to our overall revenue? Are there any untapped customer segments with growth potential?
Questions for the CMO:
- How effective have our marketing campaigns been in terms of customer acquisition and conversion rates? Which marketing channels have yielded the highest returns, and how can we optimize our marketing budget allocation?
- What are the key demographic insights of our customer base? How do different demographics (age, gender, location, etc.) impact customer behavior and preferences, and how can we tailor our marketing strategies accordingly?
- Are there any notable changes in customer sentiment or brand perception based on online reviews and feedback? How can we address any negative sentiment and leverage positive feedback to strengthen our brand image?
- What role does social media play in our revenue generation, and which platforms have been most impactful? How can we leverage social media influencers and user-generated content to expand our reach and engage with our target audience effectively?
By addressing these questions during the meeting, I intend to provide the CEO and CMO with actionable insights that will guide their decision-making process, help them evaluate the current business performance, and support their plans for strategic expansion.
Task 2: Choosing the Right Visuals
Learn which visuals are most effective in a given scenario.
In this task, I was tasked with providing visualizations to the CEO and CMO of an online retail store. The goal was to help them understand the company's performance, identify key strengths, and uncover growth opportunities for increased revenue. To ensure accurate representation of the data, I carefully gathered the requirements and created simple yet effective visuals. By using appropriate charts such as line graphs, bar graphs, map charts, I presented insights on sales trends, product category distribution, and correlations between marketing expenditure and revenue. The objective was to enable the senior management to quickly grasp the company's performance and make informed decisions for future growth and success.
Task 3: Creating Effective Visuals
Apply your under and create visuals based on business scenarios.
In this task, I have to create the visuals around four of the questions that the CEO and CMO have requested. In this task I used Tableau for the data visualization and to create a charts for the respective KPI.
Data cleanup
Before proceeding to data analysis there is a need for data cleanup. I observed that there were some negative values present in the quantity & price field that I have removed.
Also the client has provided 2 conditions for the data analysis.
- Create a check that the quantity should not be below 1 unit
- Create a check that the Unit price should not be below $0
Question 1
The CEO of the retail store is interested to view the time series of the revenue data for the year 2011 only. He would like to view granular data by looking into revenue for each month. The CEO is interested in viewing the seasonal trends and wants to dig deeper into why these trends occur. This analysis will be helpful for the CEO to forecast for the next year.
According to my analysis, there are some months of the year that experience exceptional growth. According to the data, the first eight months' revenue were relatively stable, with an average of $685k in revenue each month. The revenue rises by 40% over the prior month in September, marking the beginning of the revenue increase. This pattern persisted up until November, when it reached 1.5 million USD, the highest amount of the entire year. Unfortunately, since the data for December has been missing, no inferences can be made from it. This analysis shows how seasonality, which usually happens in the last four months of the year, impacts retail store sales.
Question 2
The CMO is interested in viewing the top 10 countries which are generating the highest revenue. Additionally, the CMO is also interested in viewing the quantity sold along with the revenue generated. The CMO does not want to have the United Kingdom in this visual.
The second visual shows how the top 10 countries which have opportunities for growth are performing. This data does not include the UK as the country already has high demand and I’ve been told you’re more focused on the countries where demand can be increased. The analysis shows that countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and France have high volumes of units bought and revenue generated. I would suggest that these countries should be focused on to ensure that measures are taken to capture these markets even more.
Question 3
The top 10 countries with the most potential for growth are represented in the second graph. Since the UK already has a high demand and I understand you are more interested in countries where demand can be increased, the UK is not included in this data. According to the analysis, sales of units and revenue are very high in nations like the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, and France. To ensure that steps are taken to further seize these markets, I would propose concentrating on these nations.
The top 10 customers who have made the most purchases from the store have been the focus of the third analysis. According to the data, there aren't many differences between the top 10 customers' purchases. The fact that the highest revenue-producing customer only spent 17% more than the second-highest demonstrates that the company does not rely solely on a small number of customers to generate revenue. This demonstrates that the company is in a strong position and that the customer's power of negotiation is low.
Question 4
The CEO is looking to gain insights on the demand for their products. He wants to look at all countries and see which regions have the greatest demand for their products. Once the CEO gets an idea of the regions that have high demand, he will initiate an expansion strategy which will allow the company to target these areas and generate more business from these regions. He wants to view the entire data on a single view without the need to scroll or hover over the data points to identify the demand. There is no need to show data for the United Kingdom as the CEO is more interested in viewing the countries that have expansion opportunities.
The map chart concludes by comparing the regions that have produced the most revenue to those that have not. Apart from the UK, it is clear that nations like the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, France, and Australia generate high revenue, and the business should invest more in these nations to boost product demand. The map also reveals that the majority of sales occur exclusively in the European region, with only a small number in the American region. Along with Russia, there is no market for the products in Africa or Asia. Sales revenues and profitability could increase with the implementation of a fresh strategy focused on these areas.
Task 4: Communicating Insights and Analysis
Effectively communicate your findings and explain how it relates to each scenario.
In this task I represented my thought process and how I handled the data cleanup and visualisation phase. I clearly presented the analysis of all four questions from the previous task raised by CEO & CMO and provided context for each scenario and how it relates to their questioning.
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