From: Marisol Vega, Head of Merchandising, Juniper Trail Outfitters (a fictional retailer)
Our sales are up but profit isn't keeping pace. Someone on the team blames our discounting, someone else blames one product line. I'd like to know which, with numbers I can take to the leadership meeting.
Data: Juniper Orders, one row per order line, with Category, Sub-Category, Region, Sales, Profit and the Discount given on the line.
What I need: which products lose money, whether discounts explain it, how deep discounts compare with the rest, which region is weakest, and what you'd change first.
A case study ends with a decision. The trail here runs from a symptom (one sub-category loses money) to a likely cause (how deeply it's discounted) to a rule you can act on.
Each step continues from your view in the step before; some start by clearing the sheet. Build the view, read the answer, and enter it in the panel above the worksheet.
Two traps on the way: comparing sums of discount rather than averages (a big sub-category has a big sum of anything), and comparing raw profit between groups of very different sizes, where a ratio is the fair measure.