In the competitive landscape of the sportswear industry, understanding sales trends and operational efficiency is crucial for sustained growth and strategic planning. Adidas, a global leader in sportswear, consistently strives to innovate and stay ahead in the market. To provide a comprehensive overview of Adidas’ sales performance in the USA, I have developed an interactive dashboard using Looker Studio.

Why Looker Studio?

I chose Looker Studio over Power BI and Tableau for its seamless integration with various data sources, user-friendly interface, real-time updates, and cost-effectiveness. Similar to Power BI and Tableau, Looker Studio offers robust visualization capabilities. However, Looker Studio provides a balanced mix of ease of use, flexibility, and affordability, making it ideal for our needs. Additionally, its collaboration features allow multiple users to work on the same dashboard simultaneously.

Dataset

A dataset from Kaggle was used that includes columns for Retailer, Retailer ID, Invoice Date, Region, State, City, Product, Price per Unit, Units Sold, Total Sales, Operating Profit, Operating Margin, and Sales Method.

This comprehensive data collection allows for detailed analysis of sales performance, including identifying top-performing products and retailers, understanding regional sales trends, and evaluating the profitability of different sales methods.

Preprocessing

No major preprocessing was required as the dataset was mostly complete, with no missing values or duplicates. However, additional fields for Gender, Year, and Month were created using the Product and Invoice Date fields. Additionally, when importing into Looker Studio, the data range needed specification since it did not begin on the header row.

Business Questions

The design of our dashboard is guided by several critical business questions aimed at uncovering actionable insights:

• Sales Trends Over Time: How do sales figures fluctuate throughout the year? Identifying peak sales periods helps in planning marketing campaigns and inventory management.
• Top Performing Cities: Which cities are driving the most sales and profit? This insight helps in targeted regional marketing and resource allocation. Product Performance: Which product categories are the most popular among different demographics? Understanding product preferences aids in product development and marketing strategies.
• Retailer Effectiveness: Which retailers are the top performers? Assessing retailer performance helps in optimizing distribution channels and partnerships.
• Sales Methods Efficiency: How do different sales methods (in-store, outlet, online) compare in terms of profitability? This analysis supports strategic decisions regarding sales channel investments.