The Use of Percentage Difference

With the use of the percentage difference, I am able to see which product is bringing in the most amount of money, and also which is costing Wal-Mart the most. As you can clearly see in the graph, the "electronics" category (-56%) is bringing down the business and not making a lot of money. However, the "collectibles" (24%) are doing great. Wal-Mart’s idea is to increase its inventory in the collectibles department and take advantage of its sales numbers.

Wal-Mart is satisfied figuring the "percentage difference" over the total period instead of yearly. This is because of trends. One year the hot idem may be furniture, and the next it will be electronics. We like to look at our values as a whole. We have found our system successful, and will continue with our style of calculations.