Customer Brand Purchases

Use this dashboard in conjunction with the other Customer Purchases dashboards - Customer Purchases Overview and Customer Product Type Purchases are available.  If customers shifted away from a brand or manufacturer, did they also shift away from the related product types? You might find that shifts towards or away from predominant product types for a particular brand caused a shift, yet is driven by the type and not reflective of the brand or manufacturer.

It is important to note that the data considered begins with the date on the heading panel of the dashboard, under Earliest Transaction Date.  This means that a customer's "purchase #1" is the first purchase on or after that date. Also be aware that guest purchases are not reflected here, without a customer id purchases cannot be numbered. Customer purchase numbers are calculated on the basis of all customer activity, without regard to in-store vs. web sales; for example a customer who makes their first purchase in a store and their second purchase online will be reflected exactly in those terms regardless of any filtering on store vs. web orders.

You will see a link to this document in the heading of the dashboard, click on Dashboard Help to access the document.

On the right side of the dashboard you will use the filters to select the brand you want to analyze and the range of purchase numbers for the analysis.  You must choose a single brand or manufacturer for the analysis.  You are able to select specific stores, narrow the brands and also choose whether the sales are web based, store based or both.

You may want to review your entire universe of brands or manufacturers to assist you in choosing which of them to explore with this dashboard.  By choosing the range of purchases ("Other Purchases Filter"), look to the graphic called Other Purchases as filtered (All Brands).  Here you will see both the average sales of all purchases, and the percentage of customers who include the brands in the purchase numbers you filtered.  This can help guide you to explore specific ones.

KPIs

At the top of the dashboard are KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that show three panels for the selected data as filtered. The first panel shows metrics for purchase #1, this is the first purchase each of your customers made. The second panel aggregates the range of purchases that you selected in the Other Purchases Filter.  The third panel shows each of the purchases you selected in the Other Purchases Filter, and can be scrolled with the arrows to the left & right of the panel. Each of these is of course based on the Earliest Transaction Date in the heading panel.

Included in each panel:

Average brand sales based on all purchases - this contemplates all purchases, whether the brand or manufacturer is included or not.

Average total purchase - this represents the entire total purchase amount.

% of purchase(s) - this is the percentage of sales $ in the purchases.

% of customers - this is the percentage of customers who included the selected brand or manufacturer, based on all customers with this purchase number in their history.

Average brand sales when brand is purchased - this contemplates all purchases where the selected brand or manufacturer is included.

As you compare the different purchases, and range of purchases look for obvious shifts in the metrics. You might see that the percentage of customers who purchased this brand initially is noticeably higher (or lower) in subsequent purchases. You might be able to influence this with incentives after an initial purchase - if you thank your customers after they initially purchase specific brand, are they more likely to continue buying it? Are your customers more (or less) likely to add smaller "impulse" items to their baskets in their earlier purchases?  How can you encourage buying habits to continue, or shift higher?

Remember that the purchase history is based on "purchase #", not a calendar-based time frame. The influence you have on these metrics is how you interact with your customers directly, especially as you show your appreciation to them.

Graphics

Below the KPIs are graphics that illustrate the universe of brands or manufacturers, with average sales based on all purchases (this contemplates all purchases, whether the brand is included or not), and the percentage of customers who purchased each one. If your universe of brands is large, you can use the zoom feature just under the graphic to narrow what is on screen. You can also click on the legend below the graphic to turn each metric on & off, this can sometimes allow better focus on each metric.

There are two similar graphics, which are best viewed together.  The top one reflects "purchase #1" and the bottom one reflects the range of purchases you selected in the filter. you will want to look at both the patterns and the actual metrics - see the metrics by hovering over the point in the graphic that you are studying.  You might see similar patterns, meaning that the overall allocation of brands is similar, yet the metrics themselves can vary up & down. How are your customers shopping differently as they continue to shop with you? Do your long-time customers buy the same array of products as earlier purchases? How are the average sales $ different?

The next set of graphics will show you the trends of customer & brand or manufacturer %'s, and how your average sales are trending.  You will see in the first graphic (Customer & Brand Percentage Trends) how the percentage of customers buying this brand trends over the history of purchases, and how that compares with the % of each purchase that includes the brand. For a third layer, you will see the trend of total purchase amounts.  If you have stores and an online platform, be sure to focus on each to see the trends.

You might find that as customers make more purchases, the overall share of each purchase for a particular brand or manufacturer may decrease - when this coincides with an increase in total purchase, it is possible that your customers have shifted brands - this could be related to pricing or to other features of the brand that might have changed. Comparing the total purchase trend alongside a specific brand trend can help you understand how your customers are shifting, and where you need to engage them. 

You will see in the second graphic (Average Brand Sales Trends) a different view of how many of your customers are purchasing, both in the way overall customers are engaged, and how many of them are buying this brand or manufacturer. You'll see three line trends reflecting total purchase, average purchase of the brand based on all purchases and average purchase of the brand when it is included. You might find that when a particular brand is purchased, the average sales in that bra are steady or increasing - is this tied to pricing, or maybe to more products in the basket? You might see that purchases including this brand are decreasing over time - customers are often not shy about describing their perceptions, ask them in a survey what they think.

The final graphic gives a view of the percentage of customers buying and average brand sales, as store vs. online activity compares. It is important to understand of course that customers interact differently in these two venues, and how you impact their buying habits also varies. Pay attention especially to how the average sales compare - are your customers more likely to spend more (or less) online? Is this typical for this particular brand or manufacturer, or does it vary from one to another? Are store trends steadier than online trends?

Next to the final graphic you will see a data table that shows the metrics from many of the graphic displays.  This is simply a different view of the data and can be exported.

Any of the data tables can be exported to work with the data outside the dashboard. Do this by clicking on the 3 dots at the top right corner of the widget, choose Download and export an image or file.  The recommended file type for a spreadsheet is CSV.