Here's a detailed example of descriptive analysis to help you clearly understand how it
works in a real-world context.
Example: Retail Store Sales
🏪
Analysis
🧩 Scenario:
You work as a data analyst for a chain of retail stores. The management wants to
understand how the stores performed last quarter. They're not asking for predictions—
just a clear picture of what happened.
📊 Objective of the Descriptive Analysis:
Summarize and visualize sales data from the past 3 months to identify patterns and
trends.
📥 Step 1: Data Collection
You gather the following data:
Date of sale
Store location
Product category
Units sold
Price per unit
Total revenue
Discounts applied
Payment method
🔍 Step 2: Data Cleaning
Remove duplicates
Fix incorrect values (e.g., negative quantities)
Fill or remove missing entries
🛠️
Step 3: Analysis Techniques Used
A. Summarizing Sales
Total revenue for each month:
o January: $120,000
o February: $135,000
o March: $150,000
B. Product Category Performance
Product Category Total Units Sold Total Revenue
Electronics 2,300 $90,000
Clothing 4,800 $75,000
Home Appliances 1,200 $45,000
C. Top Performing Stores
Store Location Revenue
New York $80,000
Chicago $60,000
Los Angeles $55,000
D. Sales by Payment Method
Credit Card: 60%
Cash: 30%
Digital Wallet: 10%
📈 Step 4: Visualization
You create:
A line graph showing revenue trend over the 3 months
A bar chart for product category sales
A pie chart showing payment method distribution
A heat map for store-wise performance
📌 Step 5: Insights
Sales increased steadily month over month.
Electronics brought in the most revenue despite fewer units sold (higher price
point).
New York store outperformed others significantly.
Most customers paid via credit card.
✅ Outcome
The management now understands:
Which products and locations performed best
How customer preferences (e.g., payment methods) vary
General sales trends over time
🎯 This does not explain why sales increased or predict what will happen — it simply
describes the past based on available data.
