Item Sales over Comparison Period

When sales decline, the real challenge is understanding exactly where the revenue is disappearing and why. The Item Sales over Comparison Period report helps you identify customers whose spending has fallen, reveal the products behind the change and find the salesperson responsible for each account.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to compare two sales periods, use the Customer Cliff bookmarks to uncover significant changes, adjust the comparison threshold and build your own drill-down views.

What the report helps you answer

Which customers are buying less than they did previously?
Which items are responsible for the decline?
How significant is the change?
Which salesperson should follow up with the account?

Choose the periods you want to compare

The report opens with Current Fiscal Year selected for the current period and Previous Fiscal Year selected for the comparison period.

You can change either range with the calendar control or the date slider. For example, select 30 June as the end date to analyse the first six months of the current year, then set the comparison period to the first six months of the previous year for a like-for-like comparison.

You can also compare periods of different lengths. If the current period covers six months and the comparison covers a full year, the adjusted comparison columns account for the different number of days in each period.

Analyse performance by measure and date

By default, the report displays Item Sales (LCY), showing sales in local currency. Use the date selector to analyse results by posting date, order date or valuation date.

The rows initially show items, making it easy to see which products have increased or decreased against the comparison period. Percentage variances are colour-coded in red and green for quick reference.

Use the measure selector on the left to switch from sales revenue to units, cost of goods sold, item profit and other available measures.

Find significant changes with Customer Cliff bookmarks

The preset bookmarks across the top of the report provide one-click views of the most important changes. The default cliff views highlight decreases of more than 20%.

Find customers whose overall sales have dropped significantly.
Find items whose sales have fallen significantly.
Use Customer Cliff by Item to see each affected customer and the specific products driving their decline.
Use Item Cliff by Customer to start with an item and identify the customers buying less of it.
Use the positive-change bookmarks to find customers buying more and items whose sales have increased.

These views help you move quickly from a high-level variance to a specific customer, product and commercial action.

Adjust the cliff threshold

The 20% threshold is only a preset. To customise it:

Select the comparison visual.
Open the Period over Comparison Period field in the Filters pane.
Choose the required condition, such as less than or greater than.
Enter a new percentage, such as 30%.
Optionally add an AND or OR condition to refine the result.
Select Apply filter.

Build your own drill-down view

You can create a custom analysis by combining any measure with your preferred row hierarchy. For example, keep Item Sales Revenue selected, add Area to the rows and then hold Ctrl on Windows or Command on Mac while adding Item.

Use the Expand all down one level control to see the items within each area. Add Customer for another level of detail, then add Salesperson to identify the person responsible for the account.

You can continue adding relevant attributes, including item colour or model year, to explore your sales data at the level of detail your team needs.

If you plan to return to a custom view, save it as a bookmark. You can also share the current report view with colleagues by link, email or Microsoft Teams.

Turn sales changes into action

The Item Sales over Comparison Period report provides a fast and flexible way to spot meaningful trends, investigate what is driving them and focus your sales team on the customers and products that need attention most.

If you require further information on Sales reporting, don't hesitate to book a call with us. We are here to assist with any questions you may have.

Item Sales over Comparison Period