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What is the Sales Trends report?

Review how your sales change over time and protect your margin.

Sales Trends helps retailers understand how sales change over time across vendors, categories, products, and stores. It contains two trend reports: 

  1. Sales Trending – a flexible, continuous trend analysis over a custom date range.
  2. Trends by Period – a structured month‑over‑month or quarter‑over‑quarter view of sales data.

    Together, these tools help you spot patterns and make margin-positive decisions.

    Sales Trending 

    Sales Trending focuses on analyzing sale patterns over time. The chart can highlight trends based on vendors, categories, and/or products, helping you determine what is bringing in revenue or decreasing it:

    Some use cases for using this report include: 

    • Forecast future sales trends based on prior performance.

    • Determine if inventory needs to be adjusted - are there low revenue products that can be replaced?

    Filtering 

    Above the line graph on the right, use dropdown filters to tailor what you see. View sales based on a selection of Vendors, Categories, Products or an assortment of the 3. Review data from a specific date range using the Time Period filter; presets are available or a custom range can be set (e.g., September 1 through December 31). 

    💡 The Time Period filter defaults to displaying data from the last 3 months.

    On the left, all available filters are grouped into tabs: Categories, Vendors, and Products, which are organized by sales performance (highest to lowest). A total sales dollar amount is listed for each line-item (dependent on Time Period filter) and a mini-trend line is included to help you quickly assess sales performance without having to select the line-item:

    ⚠️ Sales dollars are based on provided retail price and may not reflect promotions, discounts, or other changes that are not provided.

    Click individual boxes to add or remove the selection as a filter, click Select All at the top left to include the list as filters, or click Clear All at the top right to remove them:

    💡 Options that have already been selected from the dropdowns above the graph will be indicated by a check-mark next to their name.

    After selecting a filter, the line graph on the right updates to show that data. Hover over the graph to view the sales trends for the selected filter(s): 

    Trends By Period 

    The Trends by Period section helps you compare sales for a single month or quarter against the previous period and the same period the year prior.  

    • How did we perform this period? 
    • How does that compare to the previous period and the same period last year? 
    • Which vendors, categories, and locations drive the most revenue?

    Filtering

    Above the line graph, use the dropdown filters to refine your view. Analyze sales by specific Retailers/Stores, Vendors, Categories, Products, or a combination of these filters. By default, the report displays the last completed period (month), which you can change using the Select Time Period filter:

    💡 The Time Period filter defaults to displaying data for the last month.

    Widget Guide 

    Widget 

    Description 

    Use Case 

    Monthly Trends Summary

    • Total sales for the selected time period.

    • View sales dollars and percent change against the previous period and against the same period the year prior.  

    Confirm if sales have improved or declined and by how much (percentage change).

    Year‑to‑Date (YTD) Sales Summary 

    • Sales for the current year up until the time period selected and a comparison to the same period the year prior.  

    Monitor whether you are meeting your margins each year.

    Sales By Month/Quarter and Year (Bar Chart) 

    • This year’s sales compared to the prior year, segmented into months/quarters (based on Select Time Period filter). 

    • Hover over bars to see sales values and a comparison to the prior year. 

    Are sales trends seasonal? 

    Year‑to‑Date (YTD) Sales (Line Chart) 

     

    • Line chart showing total sales through the selected period compared to the same period the year prior. 

    • Hover over lines to see sales values and a comparison to the prior year.  

    View how sales have progressed throughout the year.

    Year-to-Date Sales by Store Type 

    • Sales for the current year broken into contributions from New Stores, Existing Stores, or Closed/Missing Stores.

    • Changes in sales compared to the year prior are indicated by a percentage change. 

    What influenced my sales dollars for the year, stores opening or closing? 

    Top 5 Vendor Trends 

    • 5 vendors that have had the biggest change in sales performance compared to either the prior month or year. This includes both increases and decreases in sales.

    • Use the filter on the top right of the widget to compare the current period’s sales to previous period, or to the same period last year. 

    • Select View All Vendors to look at all vendor sales in table. 

    Focus on which vendors drive the largest gains or losses. 

    Top 5 Category Sales Trends 

    • 5 categories that have had the biggest change in sales performance compared to either the prior month or same month, prior year. This includes both increases or decreases in sales. 

    • Use the filter on the top right of the widget to compare the current period’s sales to previous period, or to the same period last year. 

    • Select View All Categories to look at all category and associated vendor sales in table. 

    Decide which categories need attention, and whether product assortment needs to be adjusted. 

    Sales Trends by Location 

    		 Sale changes by State or Store for the chosen period:
    • Use the filter on the top right of the widget to compare the current period’s sales to previous period, or to the same period last year.
    • State displays changes in sales among all locations in a chosen state (increase or decrease in revenue). 
    • Store displays retailer locations on the map, and changes in sales among all locations (increase or decrease in revenue). Zoom into the map to see store locations.     
    • Select View All States or View All Stores to look at all locations and sales in a table.

    • Find regions or stores with the biggest sales declines and make inventory changes. 

    • Look into setting up more relationships in a certain area.