Background:A leading mobile gaming company, with a portfolio of popular titles across various genres, was facing challenges in understanding their sales performance across different markets. They needed a comprehensive tool to monitor their financial health and assess the profitability of each game title.

Challenge:The company had data on sales and user engagement across different platforms, countries, and cities, but it was fragmented and lacked coherence. There was no quick way to assess the overall profit margin or to analyze sales trends over time.

Objective:To develop a Sales Analysis Dashboard that could provide:

An aggregated view of global sales performance.

Insight into the average profit margin for better financial planning.

The ability to filter data by game title, country, and city for targeted analysis.

Solution:As an experienced data analyst with expertise in business intelligence tools and database management, I was tasked to create a dashboard that would fulfill the company’s requirements. The dashboard focused on the following KPIs:

Total Profit: To provide an immediate sense of the revenue generated from game sales.

Average Profit Margin: To measure the profitability of games, accounting for the costs of production, marketing, and platform fees.

Sales and Cost of Sales by Month: To observe seasonal trends and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Filters for Product Category (Game Titles), Country, and City: To delve into specific market segments and understand regional performance.

Implementation:A MySQL database was set up to perform ETL tasks, with the following steps:

Extraction: Data was extracted from the company’s sales databases, app stores, and in-app purchase records.

Transformation: The data was cleaned to resolve inconsistencies, especially with global sales figures involving currency conversions, and then aggregated to provide a unified view of sales and profits.

Loading: The cleaned and transformed data was loaded into a central data warehouse, optimized for fast querying and reporting.

The dashboard was developed using advanced visualization software, connecting to the MySQL database for real-time data updates.

Outcome:After implementing the dashboard, the company saw:

A 30% reduction in the time taken to generate sales reports.

Enhanced decision-making capabilities leading to a 10% increase in profit margins after reallocating marketing spend based on the data.

The ability to quickly identify underperforming titles and regions, enabling a swift strategic response.

Reasons for KPI Selection:The KPIs were chosen to give a holistic yet detailed view of the company’s sales health:

Total Profit highlighted the immediate financial outcome of sales activities.

Average Profit Margin helped in understanding the profitability per unit, which is crucial in the gaming industry where costs are front-loaded.

Monthly Sales and Costs provided a temporal dimension to the data, revealing the impact of marketing and seasonal user behavior.

Filters allowed for deep dives into specific data segments, aiding in precise strategy formulation.

Conclusion:The Sales Analysis Dashboard became a central component of the company’s strategic toolkit, offering real-time insights into the profitability of their extensive gaming portfolio. By leveraging MySQL for robust ETL processes and focusing on key financial KPIs, the company was able to optimize its sales strategies and improve its market standing.