When should you align different quantities on the same period of time

Episode #14 of the Tiny Graphics Advent Calendar, published by Marius Popescu for De Amicis.

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This year France decided to postpone Black Friday with a week. Due to the healthcare crisis and people being still in lock-down, keeping the same date as elsewhere in the world would mean another catastrophic season for brick and mortar stores.

So now after the event, how could you compare Black Friday sales in France on the 4th of December with all the other countries, which kept the original date of 27th November?

Align your data to the same timeline to compare different years or similar periods

This alignment in timelines brings two or more different volumes on the same timescale. This is a good way if you want to visually compare the outcome of two crises. Year-on-Year data compared with previous years is another example.

Coming back to your product, you could do the same with your annual sales. For example to see which times of the year sales are lower than others (and do something about it).

You could also go further and do the same comparison with your non-product sales, such as consulting and training. Create charts for your company three business lanes:
– products which are used by customers practically without your help
– consulting hours where your presence is required
– training for people or groups in solving their problem with or without your product

PS

To be able to bring lots of different volumes on the same timescale you need to reflect on and build reference data. What is your “normal chart” and what is the statistical distribution? This will help you evaluate one year’s volume with the historical reference data.